NANAKULI — Flora Nash, vice principal at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School, was cleaning out her office desk last week and loving it.

"Right now our administration building is under renovation," said Nash, who is in charge of that project. "Our offices are a mess.

"But hey, we've got a new-looking school!"

Well, not yet.

To make way for extensive renovations, desks, file cabinets and chairs are stacked in the halls, the main office and throughout the corridors. They spill into the foyer. Boxes, shelves and office equipment are piled in corners and along the courtyard walkway. Similar stacks, piles and heaps dominate the school's four signature circular buildings around the campus.

The whole campus is abuzz with crews of workers. Some are installing sidewalk sections; others are laying tile, painting or sanding.

"What you see right now is a major classroom renovation project we've had on the books for about three years, and we're just now getting around to it," said Nash. "Every school gets their turn, and we got our turn this time."

That work is part of more than $1 million in improvements being done at the school. Similar work projects are happening at schools all over O'ahu. Some projects are bigger than anything happening at Nanakuli; others are smaller.

Nanakuli stands out by the sheer volume of projects.

"It's very busy out there this summer," said Duane Kashiwai, DOE public works manager.

"They're pretty excited about the changes," said Greg Knudsen, DOE spokesman. "In some ways, it's kind of routine. But a lot of it's coming all at once. It's just a real good top-to-bottom fixing-everything-that-needs-fixing kind of effort."

For Nash, it's the kind of effort that's been a long time coming.

"All classrooms are being redone — the floors are being torn out and retiled, every single window has new louvers," Nash said. "Every bathroom is being restored. They've painted the interior and exterior of every classroom building."

Most of the work began in December and is expected to be completed by the time school opens again at the end of July.

"When it's all finished it should be a more energy-efficient facility and a lot cleaner and sharper looking all around," Knudsen said.

And one unique fix-up project dates back to the days when energy was so inexpensive it didn't appear to matter: The rewiring of two of the school's circular buildings that have had florescent overhead lights burning around the clock for decades.

"The way that they wired the building, the lights would be on 24/7," said Nash. "I don't know why they designed it that way. But in light of us having to pay our own bill in the future, not to mention that we have to conserve energy, we are rewiring those areas. We're fixing the problem."

The bright idea:

"They will have light switches for the first time," said Nash. "So we can just turn off the lights."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.