Lake Region school district voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a $9.6 million proposal to renovate and expand the Crooked River School in Casco.

The project was designed to address overcrowding issues at Songo Locks School in Naples.

A total of 2,305 residents in the four towns School Administrative District 61 serves – Naples, Sebago, Bridgton and Casco – cast their votes in separate referendums. A majority of them – 1,698 – voted against the proposal, while 604 voters supported it.

In Sebago, where the Friends of Sebago Elementary School has strongly voiced opposition to the project, 585 residents turned down the district’s proposal, while only 20 supported it.

Meanwhile, 390 voters in Naples, where school officials say the elementary school is overcrowded with students, voted against renovating the Crooked River School, while 215 voted in favor of the proposal. In Casco, residents narrowly supported the proposal, 188-186. And in Bridgton, residents opposed the proposal, 537-181.

“We will continue to manage, but the results were disappointing,” Cheryl Cline, principal of Songo Locks, said Wednesday.

“It was a shame that the voices of a few drowned out the needs of many,” said Naples School Board chairwoman Janice Barter.

The district’s proposal would have transferred about 250 students in grades 3, 4 and 5 from Songo Locks Elementary School, located on Songo Locks Road, to the Crooked River School, located on Route 11, which would be expanded by about a third of its size, SAD 61 Superintendent Al Smith said. More than 450 students are being taught at Songo Locks, which was built to accommodate about 380 students.

Formerly an elementary school, the Crooked River building now houses high school alternative and adult education programs. About five years ago, as part of a consolidation effort, the district decided not to use the building as an elementary school. Subsequently, those students and teachers were moved to Songo Locks.

Smith said the proposed redesign – which called for increasing the total square footage of the facility from 35,000 to 50,000 – would have met the district’s needs for the next 40 years or more. In addition to alleviating the congestion at Songo Locks, those who supported the project said the renovations were needed in order for the district to meet the students’ educational needs for the 21st century.

Part of the proposal was to add a five-classroom wing toward the rear of the existing building, as well as a new 150-seat auditorium and expand the parking lot.

Sebago resident Denise Olsen, who heads the Friends of Sebago Elementary School, was against the proposal mainly because of the price tag.

Olsen said she supported re-opening the 30-year-old Crooked River School as an elementary school to address the overcrowding issues, but at a much lower cost.

“I had heard from community members in all four towns that it just really was too large of an impact on taxpayers,” Olsen said Wednesday. “For me, personally, in regard to the Sebago end of this, I am happy that it was turned down, and I am very happy (about) the opportunity that possibly the four towns can actually work together” to come up with a more “financially responsible” plan, she said.

In October, Sebago Town Manager James Smith III informed the superintendent that the selectmen had voted to explore withdrawal from SAD 61 – a decision that was based on the district voting to move ahead with the Crooked River School proposal.

According to Olsen, a public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19 in Sebago regarding the withdrawal process. The town could decide Feb. 2 whether to continue the process.

The Friends of Sebago Elementary School group, meanwhile, was also concerned that Sebago Elementary, which enrolls 75 students in Sebago, could have closed if the project were approved, since an expanded Crooked River School would have been able to house those students. Smith insists, however, that the proposal, if approved, wouldn’t have shut down Sebago Elementary.

Smith said he was disappointed with the results of the referendum, and that the SAD 61 building committee would be reconvening sometime this week to discuss the next steps.

“We have to do something,” Smith said.

He encourages residents to email him at elemfac@lakeregionschools.org so he can get a better understanding of why voters rejected the plan.

“It’s unfortunate,” Smith said of the vote. “I would’ve thought that it would have passed – or certainly not have failed by as large of a margin as it did.”