FREEPORT – Regional School Unit 5 directors from Durham and Pownal will confer with school officials from Brunswick and School Administrative District 51, both of which have shown interest in admitting high school students from those towns should Freeport withdraw from RSU 5.

The RSU 5 Working Group, as the Durham-Pownal contingent is called, has been meeting for three weeks. The first meeting with the RSU Withdrawal Committee is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Freeport Town Hall.

Superintendent Shannon Welsh announced during a board meeting last week that the Working Group would meet with Brunswick and SAD 51, which includes the towns of Cumberland and North Yarmouth, at a time to be determined.

Meanwhile, the Working Group has conducted meetings with town officials from Durham and Pownal. The Working Group conducted a public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at Pownal Elementary School, and another public meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 3, at Durham Community School. An Advisory Committee from those towns will work with the Working Group, on behalf of their respective towns.

Michelle Ritcheson of Durham is the chairwoman of the Working Group. Ritcheson said that the Working Group will conduct its meetings at the Durham and Pownal schools, mostly on Mondays, at 6:15 p.m.

Should Freeport residents vote later this year to leave RSU 5, both Durham and Pownal could elect to send their high school students to another school – hence the talks with other school departments. Durham Community School goes through eighth grade, but in the case of Pownal Elementary, the school goes through Grade 5. The topic of where Pownal might send its sixth-graders came up during last week’s school board meeting. Currently, Pownal sends its sixth-graders to Freeport Middle School. Other options include Durham, or possibly even keeping the sixth-graders in Pownal.

Lisa Demick, principal at Pownal Elementary, told the board that the tentative plan is for Pownal students to continue attending Freeport Middle School. Ten of the 15 fifth-graders at Pownal have older siblings at Freeport, she said. Later, Demick said that residents will weigh in at some point.

“We’re waiting to see what the wishes of the community are on this one,” Demick said.

Tim Giddinge, chairman of the Pownal Board of Selectmen, said there has been “some talk” among parents about starting a sixth-grade class at Pownal Elementary, but that’s as far as it has gone.

Kathryn Brown of Pownal makes a point to Chairwoman Michelle Ritcheson of Durham during a meeting of the Regional School Unit 5 Working Group last week at Freeport High School. The Working Group, comprising school board members from Durham and Pownal, is working with the RSU Withdrawal Committee of Freeport to negotiate Freeport’s possible withdrawal from the school district.