POULSBO — Handling the weight of a couple hundred students day in and day out for about 40 weeks, year after year, school buildings age. The end of each school year brings new glitches that must be repaired, and summer vacation provides the bulk of the time for that maintenance.

Throughout the school year, most of the North Kitsap School District’s maintenance team’s time is consumed by regular upkeep while also answering distress calls for anything that is not operating as it should. During the summer, as teachers and kids depart, the buildings open up — as do the maintenance team’s schedules — for some tender loving construction … and more.

“The custodians are a big part of the summer, because that’s when they do their major cleaning; they start from the top of these buildings and go to the bottom, we have some great custodians,” NKSD director of facilities operations Dave Dumpert said. “My guys do things like painting and minor projects.”

The NKSD’s 10-member maintenance crew brought out its paint brushes to color the portable classrooms at NKHS, Suquamish Elementary and Poulsbo Junior High this summer.

“We painted them and made them to look alike to make these more of campus environments,” Dumpert said, noting the benefit of school pride. “It’s a lot more aesthetically pleasing.”

In addition to coordinating the campus building colors at each site, the new coats should also provide protection for the portables through upcoming years, he added.

With a summer budget close to $450,000, Dumpert said there is not enough money for all the projects that need to be done, but only for those of dire necessity.

“I try to say ‘yes’ as much as I possibly can, but there are only so many resources and so much money,” he said, noting that the task of prioritizing projects falls on himself and a group of the district’s executive directors.

The most important project on the school’s summer maintenance list this year fills a need for functional academics space at Kingston Junior High. After moving a portable classroom building from the recently renovated Poulsbo Junior High to Kingston, maintenance crews have since been gutting, restructuring and remodeling its interior.

When finished, the portable will provide the KJH special education program with classroom, kitchen, bathroom and laundry space big enough to serve 10-12 students whereas in the previous classroom, six was a crowd.

“The main things we were looking for were increased space and maneuverability for the equipment, and the ability to create difference in areas for either quiet study or larger group settings,” said NKSD director of special education Dorothy Siskin. “The biggest issue was their space was too small.”

Additionally, in the interest of North Kitsap’s special education and disabled population, maintenance crews replaced the wheelchair ramp at the Holly Ridge portable and created ADA ramp access at the NKHS stadium.

In the interest of North Kitsap’s extracurricular programs, upgrades were made to three tennis courts while repairs were made to the basketball court at NKHS. And work began on a $40,000, four-year project at the community auditorium.

Maintenance crews had to repair and re-finish NKHS’ main gym basketball court after a backboard shattered earlier in the year, while the district contracted Atlas Track, Inc. to resurface and re-stripe the south three tennis courts at NKHS in time for the beginning of the fall sports season.

And before the beginning of NK’s first major drama production of “MacBeth,” crews will be making significant sound and lighting upgrades inside the community auditorium, Dumpert said.