McDonald County High School principal Angie Brewer recently explained a number of improvements being made at the school.
Improvements have been going on since mid-May, Brewer said.
The area around the mustang sculpture in front of the school has been improved. The agriculture department and maintenance crew, along with volunteer Gwen Gordon, relandscaped the area, adding new rock, and the pipe fence was welded where it was broken in several places and repainted.
The outside of the building is being cleaned with a hot-water mold deterrent, Brewer said.
"Our custodial staff here has been working very, very hard. They painted the entire building on the inside ... weight rooms, locker rooms, everything," she said.
Sharon Meadows of Anderson, a member of the custodial staff, has been with the district for 19 years.
"I feel pretty good about it," she said, regarding the work she and her coworkers had done. "Good, physical job. I don't mind."
The stage in the basketball gym has been torn out, and a contractor is going to build a weight room and coaches' offices in the space.
The former drama room is now a vocal music room. The choirs formerly had to practice in the performing arts center, Brewer said. The drama department is getting a new building, which was formerly the ROTC building. It is still undergoing renovations. It will have a stage and room to build sets and room for costumes all in one place, Brewer said.
Behind the new drama building, new bleachers are being installed at the baseball field.
The technology department has also been busy, upgrading the sound system in the gym and adding a speaker to the south end zone in the football field, Brewer said. It also added a WiFi boost to the commons and the 100 hallway. It installed 55-inch televisions in different spots around the school to help with communications and highlight student achievements, she said.
The old senior portraits are being put back up in the commons area.
The maintenance department removed the razor wire that used to surround the old bus barn area as well as the old fuel island from the former bus barn area.
Teachers and students are likely to be more comfortable this fall. A new teachers' lounge has been created, and comfortable chairs have been added to hallways to make the school more inviting.
"I want the school to be really inviting for the kids. I want them to be comfortable," Brewer said.
She noted, "We have an awesome custodial staff that works really hard and takes a lot of pride in their work. And I'm very thankful to the maintenance department, Bob Campbell and Will Gordon, for all of the projects they've completed over the summer."
Brewer said the high school building has a lot of potential.
"People always say it was built to be impressive ... so that's what I want it to be," she said. "My dad was one of the first teachers when they opened the building, and my mom retired from McDonald County as well, so I take a lot of pride in our district and the impression our building makes."
