“Sometimes, when school starts back up, I’ll see a teacher or administrator I haven’t seen in a while and they ask me how my summer was, and I say, ‘I’ve been right here working. My summer was busy,’” said Max Cleaver, TISD executive director of planning and operations.

“The summer is definitely our busiest season when it comes to construction and improvements,” said Cleaver, who oversees and makes recommendations to the TISD school board when it comes to projects.

“You can do more over the summer,” Cleaver said. “Sometimes there are things you can’t do during the school year, like classroom renovations or additions, because you don’t want to disrupt the student curriculum.”

Cleaver used the example that next spring, toward the end of the school year, the district will begin working on constructing new science labs at the middle school and high school.

“We’re looking at the end of the school year because the students won’t have to have those labs according to their class curriculum,” he said. “We’re going to be able to move them out of those labs, and then have additional time, on top of the summer months, to do work.”

That type of construction project is easier when there aren’t students in the buildings who builders have to work around.

“When you do work during the school year, you have to take (students) into consideration. It’s easier to become a distraction, or have communication issues,” he said.

TISD officials have used this summer to work on a number of projects.

“This summer we have a number of things going on,” Cleaver said. “We have our 2007 bond projects, and our capital improvement projects.”

The biggest project TISD staff has worked on over the summer is construction of the Ag-Science Center, which is being built next to the high school north of the soccer practice fields.

The building is being constructed using money from the $19.9 million bond passed by Temple voters in 2007.

“There’s a lot of cool stuff going on (at the Ag-Science site) right now in terms of construction,” Cleaver said. “This week they’re in the process of installing a lot of the rods and materials, which will act as the backbone for the building.”

Cleaver thanked the community for its support in passing that bond.

“It’s going to help us tremendously in the future,” he said.

The bond money also will go toward the construction of the science labs Cleaver mentioned when talking about projects that should begin next year, along with construction to the Temple High School auditorium, which will get an overhaul. The auditorium’s stage will be redone, and a new ceiling will be installed to enhance acoustics and make lighting adjustments easier and safer.

Included in the bond were funds to add tablet laptop computers and LCD digital projectors to more than 500 district classrooms, which Cleaver said will be completed before students return this fall.

“It may not be the most photo-friendly renovation we’re making, but I think it’s probably the most important,” he said. “Once the teachers get use to using the projectors, it’s going to become a major tool for them.”

Because the majority of the projectors are being installed in classroom ceilings, the district is working with both an audio-visual company and an electrical company, which is making improvements to classroom outlets so they have overhead power sources, he said.

In terms of capital improvements, which come out of general school funds, Cleaver said there are a number of projects going on.

TISD trustees unanimously approved more than $111,000 worth of roofing projects in May.

The repairs took take place at Temple High School, Lamar Middle School, Travis Middle School and Meridith-Dunbar Elementary School.

The district completed asbestos removal at Meridith-Dunbar and Jefferson elementary schools.

“At Jefferson there were insulation improvements made to the front office, the main corridor, the cafeteria and to several classrooms,” Cleaver said. “At Meridith-Dunbar, we renovated 10 classrooms.”

Meridith-Dunbar will have a new gym floor when students return to the school in the fall. About 7,300-square-feet worth of new flooring was installed in the school’s gymnasium, at a maximum cost of $40,600. The new flooring contains plastic-like products that snap together to form a court. The new flooring was placed over the old court, which Cleaver estimated is about 60 years old.

The district is resurfacing and repairing fencing around several tennis courts at the high school and repairing a dugout at the baseball field, which were damaged during a wind storm last spring. Staff remodeled the student parking lot entrance at the high school.

In addition, furniture and fixtures at the offices of the Wheatley Alternative Education Center were upgraded.

Cleaver said the district is negotiating a lighting audit, which could take place in the fall.

“There are so many projects going on right now, I can’t think of all of them,” he said. “Since (Dr. Robin Battershell) has become the superintendent, we’ve kind of implemented a five-year improvement plan.”

Projects that can’t be finished in one summer, or one year, will roll over to the next summer and school year.

“The improvements and projects that are taking place don’t even include our general repair orders, which include things like repairs to broken windows, pipes or doors,” he said. “We’re just extremely busy right now - it’s the summer.”

TISD students return to classes on Aug. 26.