The July 4 holiday is behind us and we are in the middle of county fair season. PeeWee ball, swimming lessons, Vacation Bible School, county fairs, and family vacations fill our summer schedules. We get so wrapped up in the summer pace we sometimes forget just how many things need to get done during these precious few summer days.

In the school business, summer is a dramatic contrast to what takes place the other nine and a half months of the year. Even though the activity is not the same, a school is still a hive of activity.

During the fifty-four working days of “summer vacation,” much of the behind the scenes work must be accomplished to allow the rest of the school year to run smoothly.

In the central offices, orders for equipment and materials are processed. New items are received and directed to their final resting places. Dozens of end of the year reports are filed with federal and state agencies. Student schedules, teacher schedules, and bus routes are all mapped out for the upcoming year.

Maintenance staff have very few days in which to paint, clean, fix, and remodel. Furniture is moved out of each classroom and each room is washed and cleaned from top to bottom. Floors are made to shine like diamonds and fresh coats of paint can be found throughout the building.

In both buildings this summer, special efforts are going forward to meet new fire marshal requirements. New wiring, outlets, light fixtures, and detection equipment is installed to protect the safety of students, employees, and visitors in our buildings.

At the middle school a new roof was applied to the west portion of the building, several yards of new sidewalk were poured, a new backstop at the softball field is being built by volunteers, and remodeled bleachers will be installed. Asbestos was removed from two classrooms and the restrooms. New stalls are being installed in several restrooms throughout the district and handicap accessibility is being addressed in each building.

At the high school and elementary the nurse’s office is undergoing a massive remodeling. The former elementary media center is being converted into a community-fitness room and should be open in August.

Playground equipment is being installed, new borders around the new equipment is being built, and a new padded surface is being applied to part of the playground to create a safe, yet handicap accessible, play area. The grass area of the playground received several semi-loads of rich black dirt and has been reworked, reshaped, and reseeded.

Several elementary classrooms are being rewired and equipped to handle air conditioning. The former industrial tech room is being converted to a half dozen storage closets for each elementary grade to store their over-flow and seasonal materials and equipment. Four elementary classrooms have new overhead cabinets that were locally built. By fall the lower elementary grades will have open-face hall lockers to house coats and boots.

At the high school several rooms are being moved. The former high school media center is undergoing massive demolition and renovation to allow two classrooms to occupy the space. The hallway outside the former media center is also receiving a major facelift.

A new greenhouse will be built on to the high school Vocational Agriculture classroom on the west side of the school building. The former prop room has been relocated in the former drafting room to allow for greater fire safety at the previous location.

The district has also allowed funds for volunteers to utilize if they desire to continue the remodeling of the teacher’s lounge. Earlier this spring the building trades class doubled the size of the teacher’s lounge and started the sheetrocking process.

A major project is the pressure washing/tuckpointing and re-caulking of the 1922 building which houses the high school. The crew from NAME, Iowa, has worked over two week restoring and giving a much needed facelift to the building.

On top of everything else, we have had twenty students taking Driver Education and the annual staff students working to wrap up the 2002-2003 annual. At different parts of the day you will find FFA members preparing for fairs, Summer Success students working on academics, and Bison Clubhouse students at the elementary working on reading and math skills.

As you can tell, while the activity during the ten weeks of summer is different from the activity the rest of the year, a school is still a very busy place. One of the goals set forth by the NAME Community School Board of Education deals with pride of ownership. Residents of NAME, NAME, NAME, and NAME, all take a great deal of pride in their homes, their churches, and their communities. As stewards of the school district properties, it is our responsibility to maintain our outstanding facilities and to model that pride of ownership for you the taxpayers. Our students, our employees and our taxpayers are all very proud of our rich educational heritage. These buildings and facilities are a mirror of who we are.

It is always an honor to give tours of these wonderful facilities. Over the July 4 holiday weekend we gave tours to four classes holding class reunions and three families who happen to have children or other relatives home and wanted to share past memories.

A school that is focused on serving the community is a beehive of activity fifty-two weeks of the year. We are such a school.