Out with the old and in with the new.

Summer was a time for renovation. Work on the “new” LHS began immediately after school ended. Crews showed up with a determination to makeover Lawrence High School. The lockers, floors and freshly painted walls surprised students on their first day back.

All these changes required lots of prep, time and money, and for a while, it was a close race.

“It was chaos,”  assistant principal Mike Norris said. “We had painters, we had the locker people, we had the concrete stuff going on. We also had the three biology rooms upstairs totally gutted.”

Norris said the administrators had to meet with three different locker companies for initial bids because it’s the school’s policy.

“It was a lot to do just for the lockers,” Norris said.

Decisions such as the size, color and location of lockers had to be made by Norris, principal Matt Brungardt, and director of facilities and operations, Tom Bracciano. These decisions were hard to make, and the process didn’t end until the day before classes began.

“The freshmen started Wednesday, and combinations were entered Monday and Tuesday,” Norris said.

Another major task was removing the carpet on the lower level of the school. When the carpet was pulled up, it was a mess.

“They found some weird paint job that took about two weeks to get off,” Norris said.

Carpeting was left in the upstairs halls because time ran out. However, if the concrete floors go over well this year, the carpet will be removed up there, too.

“If they decide they hate the concrete, it can be changed,” Norris said.

The custodial staff also was involved in the renovations, with help from staff from LHS, Free State High School, and West and South Middle Schools.

Security guard, Sean Ledford painted the lunchroom, various stairwells and ceilings.

“It was a lot of work, but the paint crew was awesome,” Ledford said.

To provide relief from the hard work, the staff played pranks on each other.

“We would surprise each other by dumping chilling ice water on one another,” Ledford said.

The renovations were hard to accomplish, but well worth the effort.

“The school looks clean,” junior Tucker Sutter said.