In a 72-59 vote at the polls on June 10, Westport Island residents decided to stop pursuing a possible withdrawal from Regional School Unit 12.

Town Clerk Gaye Wagner provided the results.

“I’m very pleased,” said Richard DeVries, who led a petition drive to get the question on the ballot. He said residents would not have known anything more about costs surrounding a pullout if they had waited to vote on the withdrawal agreement in November.

Leaving the district would have exposed the town to having to cover special education costs and other unknowns, DeVries said in a telephone interview Tuesday night.

Withdrawal Committee Chairman Gerald Bodmer said a yes vote meant the withdrawal committee would have no further meetings and there would be no more steps taken toward a November withdrawal vote. The proposed withdrawal deal had been awaiting consideration by the school district’s board.

The decision Westport Island made Tuesday was the right one, financially and educationally, RSU 12 Superintendent Howie Tuttle said.

Tuttle said he wanted to thank Westport Island’s committee that worked to negotiate a withdrawal deal that no longer faces a town vote. “It was a good group,” Tuttle said of the town’s panel. “That was a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of effort,” he said.