BLOOMINGTON - The District 87 Board of Education did a lot in little bit of time - less than 15 minutes -Wednesday night.

The board unanimously Ok'd a list of construction, repair and maintenance projects for its seven elementary schools, high school and junior high school. The almost $5 million worth of projects, discussed in December, will be done this summer.

Among highlights were reconstructing the playground at Bent Elementary School, replacing the school's existing fence with a six-foot chain link fence and adding perimeter lighting and video surveillance cameras there.

The north-side main entrance of BHS will be rebuilt to include an "air lock" area and a lighted canopy similar to the south side entrance.

The main entrance to the Area Vocational Center at the high school also will be rebuilt and the BHS parking lot will be reconstructed to include a new bus lane.

The board also OK'd a variety of new textbooks for Bloomington High School students in a range of subjects, including literature, Spanish, French, history, psychology, math and science.

Several of the books come with compact discs, said BHS Principal Cindy Helmers. She noted that would really help lessen the burden of students lugging around so many heavy textbooks.

Also approved was the 2007-2008 school calendar. Barry Reilly, assistant superintendent of human resources, said there was a lot of feedback, most of it positive. Classes will begin Aug. 20 and end May 27. Both of those are early dismissal days. If all five emergency days are used, the last day is June 3.