Saronikos: maintenance at 33 school units

Maintenance work is under way at all 33 school and pre-school units of the Municipality of Saronikos, ahead of the new school year that begins on 11 September 2026. The municipality announced the work on Friday 21 August 2026 and, according to anattica.gr, the units covered are in Kalyvia, Anavyssos, Palaia Fokaia, Saronida and Lagonisi. The municipality’s crews and contractors are working throughout the summer, carrying out cleaning, painting and repairs to the buildings and the yards. The municipality states that a significant part of its annual budget goes towards the needs of the schools.

The municipal authority maintains that the resources for the works were secured through the management of the municipality’s finances over the past two and a half years, and that almost 80% of the work is self-financed, from saved municipal resources. This claim is the position of the municipal authority and is not accompanied by a published cost breakdown per school unit or per category of work, so that it could be verified by a third party. Nor has the total sum being spent on school infrastructure this year been announced, or which part of the work is funded from other sources, such as state grants or programmes. The distinction matters, since municipalities usually fund school maintenance from a combination of own resources and central funds.

The maintenance of school buildings falls institutionally to the municipalities and is as a rule carried out in the summer, when the schools are closed and the work does not interrupt lessons. For the Municipality of Saronikos the undertaking also has a geographical dimension: the 33 units are scattered across five settlements along the coastal zone of south-eastern Attica, from Kalyvia to Palaia Fokaia, which requires the coordination of crews at multiple points at the same time. The population of the area rises significantly in the summer months because of holiday homes, while work in outdoor areas is carried out under difficult conditions when Attica goes through periods such as the recent heatwave with 38 degrees.

The work will continue until the start of the new school period, so that the buildings are handed over ready to the school communities. The municipality has not announced a detailed timetable per unit, nor whether any schools require more extensive work that may not be completed in time. It has also not been made known whether structural reinforcement, energy upgrading or accessibility works are included, beyond the cleaning, painting and repairs that are mentioned. In the municipalities of Attica, similar infrastructure works, such as the stormwater network projects in Palaio Faliro, are usually made public with a specific budget, a detail that has not been given here. The state of the schools will become apparent in practice when lessons begin on 11 September 2026.