BEND, OR -- More than 20 projects are underway this summer at various schools in the Bend La Pine District, And Executive Director of Facilities, Mike Tiller, says they'll be wrapped up by the first day of school. Tiller says big and small changes have been made, designed to improve area kids' educational experiences. "We're in a good spot, there's a lot of work still ongoing, but we will be open and ready for the start of school."

The biggest projects are the completion of Bend's newest Elementary school, North Star, the start of construction on the new high school, and Phase 2 of the Pilot Butte Middle School renovation. Marshall High School also just got 2 more CET classrooms and a gym. But, Tiller says there's been a lot of general maintenance projects going on, too. "We've got roofing work going on at 5 different locations, paving projects at another 5 or 6 locations, we're doing a lot, all across the District."

Tiller, says each of the schools being worked on has its own personality, and all work must be personalized to enhance the individual school's atmosphere and spirit. "One of the best things, from my standpoint, is our community has always supported the preservation of our existing assets, and that's what we're doing with the bulk of these projects." Of the many projects already underway, Tiller says they're making good progress. "We think, right now, we're about 60% of the way through."

Tiller says in addition to small projects like roofing and paving, several big projects have been completed like Bend's newest Elementary school, North Star, and Phase 2 of the Pilot Butte Middle School renovation. Tiller says they've been working on more than 20 big and small projects this summer, and the smaller ones will definitely be wrapped up in time for the first day of school. "So, the roofing projects and the paving projects are virtually complete, they're just putting the finishing touches on them. If you drive down 27th street, you can see roofing work going on right there at Mt. View High School that's not quite done, but we anticipate it'll be done in the next 2 weeks.

Voters approved a 5-year bond to fund more than 150 projects in 2017. Tiller says they've completed roughly 60% of them.