Students at four Edmonton public schools will have to put up with construction headaches when they get back to class this fall.

Strathcona High School, Eastglen High School, and Prince Charles and Forest Heights elementary schools are getting new heating and cooling systems and better lighting.

Classrooms and library spaces are also being renovated as part of the $25-million project.

John Nicoll, the managing director of facilities services for Edmonton Public Schools, said the work won't be finished by the time classes start in September.

"If you look at the Strathcona and Eastglen, they're high schools that are in core parts of the city," Nicoll said.

"When we finish spending the money on them, we will have replaced boilers that are 60 years old and heat that's cranky and intermittent with modern systems and new lights and new features in classrooms, so it is a substantial chipping away."

Eastglen students will face a second round of renovations next spring.