As summer winds down, contractors are busy at work making sure children at Little Flower School at 900 Stevenson Drive on Springfield's south side are comfortable this academic year and beyond. The school is getting new HVAC units in all the classrooms and several areas of the school are being updated and remodeled.

Little Flower School is celebrating 65 years this year, says Msgr. John Ossola, pastor of Little Flower Parish. He says that thanks to a capital campaign, extensive work is being done in the school and eventually projects will also be completed at the church.

Because the parish is such a visible part of the neighborhood, the billboard outside the school explains "Under construction — Campaign $$ at work — To register, call LFS."

"Each room gets its own unit and each unit provides both heating and air-conditioning," says Msgr. Ossola, who was assistant at the parish from 1972 to 1976 and returned there as pastor in 2007. "We have 15-plus units, so it is quite a job we have going on here.

"I look around and I can't imagine how all this works and where all this will go," he says, shaking his head. "We have all this going on in here and we've had a crane outside and other equipment, too. It is quite a project." He adds that he is grateful for all that his parishioners have done to bring the project to fruition.

Little Flower, which serves children from preschool through eighth grade, begins classes on Monday, Aug. 19.