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Despite what our calendars and thermometers would argue, the end of summer draws nigh, and with it comes the beginning of the school year.

That does not mean, however, that Medford School District employees spent the past couple of months enjoying their time away from the classroom, for this year’s break from educational rigors has been anything but a vacation.

The school system has faced tests of its own device — and in three matters, at least, the current grade is “incomplete.”

The closest to successful completion involves coming to agreement on a new contract between the district and the Medford Education Association.

Both sides said last week that, while some differences remain, progress has been made on issues that reach far beyond paychecks.

“Teachers want a strong contract to support working conditions,” union Vice President Jessica Fitzsimmons said, “and to provide safe and secure classrooms and appropriate support for the students.”

Fitzsimmons and Medford schools Superintendent Bret Champion each put focus on providing support for teachers and staff during an evolving environment — one that has seen significant numbers considering leaving the profession.

“We want to make sure we are listening and hearing the voices of our teachers and MEA members,” Champion said, “and respond well to that.”

While another bargaining session isn’t scheduled until next month, signs point to an eventual resolution — avoiding the sort of labor strife that has hit Medford schools in the past, particularly in the tumultuous negotiations of 2014.

“We exist for our students,” Champion said. “Everything we do in that points back to how to make the world better for our students.”

Meanwhile, August marked the beginning of Jonathan Lyons’ service as principal of South Medford High School — after an early summer punctuated by questions over the district’s hiring process following the departure of the popular Jeremy Hamasu, and reports about Lyons’ own departure from his previous position.

The dust appears to have settled momentarily on those issues, and in a welcome statement posted to the SMHS website, Lyons goes out of his way to praise the community he’s joining, while also asking to be evaluated on his performance going forward.

“I hope you will give grace,” he writes, “and not place judgment based on one past incident, but on how I lead SMHS.”

Results were released earlier this month on a learning experience of quite a different sort, but also one where the results will be forthcoming.

Medford school officials, as well as representatives from the city police and fire departments and other agencies, held a review of the large-scale active shooter drill held in June at Oakdale Middle School.

“There are some significant changes that need to occur,” in having campuses prepared for such an emergency, said Ron Havniear, the school district’s director of security, facilities and leadership development.

Communication, efficiency and how to reunify students and parents became major action points coming from the drill — which was held after a spate of actual shootings nationally.

While gaps in the response effort were identified, the exercise was found to be a success if only in that it showed the agencies involved that there’s work to be done.

“Luckily, this was not the real deal,” Havinear said. “But we have the realism of this exercise to draw from and a foundation to learn these lessons.”

A teachers’ contract to complete, a new principal to establish himself, and a security plan to develop. Medford’s school system has some homework to do even as classes begin.