A little rainstorm couldn’t dampen the first signs of construction at Free State High School, Lawrence High School and Lawrence Virtual School, as the school district prepares to install new athletic facilities.

Bob Lisher, Free State’s varsity football coach, said maintenance crews were uprooting sprinkler heads from the baseball field Friday morning, in preparation for new artificial turf.

Similar work was being done at Lawrence High, where a crew was dismantling a shed adjacent to the track.

“We were hoping to start today, but we had a little rain, and we’re hoping we can start tomorrow,” Tom Bracciano, the district’s facilities director, said Friday.

A few minor contractual points need to be shored up before construction begins, but Bracciano didn’t expect to it to be long before crews begin tearing up sod at the two high schools.

“Our groundspeople are out there, and getting ready for them to come in,” he said.