This story is part of WTOP鈥檚 2026聽Back to School coverage.
At Boone Elementary School in Southeast D.C. on Friday afternoon, crews painted classrooms, fixed doors, upgraded the parking lot and cut the grass.
The work is part of the city鈥檚 push to ensure campuses are prepared to welcome kids back to school when the new academic year begins Monday, and similar efforts are underway across D.C.
To prepare, D.C. Department of General Services Director Delano Hunter said, there鈥檚 a focus on small painting jobs and full modernizations and new schools. The city鈥檚 working around the clock to make sure buildings are ready. One day last week, Hunter said he started his day at 4:30 a.m. and turned his computer off around 12:30 a.m.
鈥淎t times, it feels like herding cats,鈥� Hunter said.
The efforts are spread across multiple teams, including capital construction, facility maintenance and the contractual services group responsible for managing vendors鈥� work.
In some cases, the focus is general work order repairs, which Hunter said include fixing doors, locks, elevators and windows. As of Friday, Hunter said they鈥檝e finished about 2,000 of those repairs, and have between 700 and 800 remaining.
They鈥檝e also spent the summer replacing elevators, HVAC systems and turf fields. The agency is working on HVAC systems at 30 locations, Hunter said, and it鈥檚 work that will continue through the start of the new year.
In schools that have had 鈥渃hronic issues,鈥� such as Cardozo Education Campus and Phelps High School, Hunter said there are full HVAC replacements underway.
However, 鈥渘ot all will be done by day one, but we have contingencies like spot coolers in place,鈥� Hunter said.
Crews focus on doing 鈥渁 ton of work鈥� between when school ends in June and resumes again in August, Hunter said. It鈥檚 a time period during which the priority is finishing work that could be considered disruptive during an ordinary school day.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always a race against the timeline,鈥� Hunter said.
This fall, four 鈥渕odernized鈥� campuses 鈥� J.O. Wilson Elementary School, Tubman Elementary School, Malcolm X Elementary School, and Thomas Elementary School 鈥� are opening.
As of last week, the city has certificates of occupancy at all of its major new buildings.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big milestone for us,鈥� Hunter said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 continuous work. It鈥檚 always tight, and we鈥檙e going to run through the tape on this.鈥�
Preventive maintenance, dedicated funding for work order closures and small capital investments are essential for having reliable school facilities, Hunter said.
And even though things may inevitably break, 鈥渨hen things go down, we鈥檙e able to get them up a lot quicker,鈥� Hunter said.
So, he said, families should be assured 鈥渢hat they have professionals that are committed to getting the job done, and when things don鈥檛 happen quite as we like them, we鈥檙e working around the clock to make them right.鈥�
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