Three hundred-eighty residents turned out for the election with 183 voting to approve the referendum and 197 voting against.

"I think this no vote might illustrate dissatisfaction with the CV-S school; the quality of our education program, efficiency of administration and ability of the board to articulate a clear vision for the future," said Steve Schneider, vice president of the school board.

"As a member of the board, the message I hear is to work harder on quality, efficiency of education and vision. I’m convinced that the CV-S community wants a high-quality school, deserves a high-quality school and will support a high-quality school."

Schneider said the board would likely be discussing the failed proposal at its regularly scheduled meeting tonight at 7 p.m.

Superintendent Nicholas Savin was at a meeting Wednesday morning and could not be reached for comment.

The project was slated to cost $7.79 million and divided the work into three major areas: space reconfiguration, building systems maintenance and upgrading and exterior site work.

Space reconfiguration would have cost $2.35 million and focused on shuffling the library, classrooms and administrative offices to improve the flow of the school, improve office efficiency and address safety concerns with the current layout.

The building systems maintenance aspect of the project would have cost $1.85 million and involved repairing or replacing some of the "nuts and bolts" elements in the school. Examples include fixing leaks with the roof, upgrading the clock system and replacing one of the building’s boilers.

The third component of the project, exterior site work, would have cost $1.7 million. It includes replacing the pavement and reconfiguration of the parking area and student drop-off zone to enhance pedestrian and vehicle traffic flow.

Estimates put the project’s impact on the tax levy at slightly more than one-half of one percent, or about $23,107 per year over the 15-year life of the project.

Estimates provided by one of the project’s engineers call for approximately $30,000 per year in savings brought about by energy efficiency improvements.