Centennial School Board meets for May

Though he hadn’t seen any machines or heard any rumbling by early morning, Centennial Superintendent Tim DeWaard was nonetheless expecting the earth to begin moving Monday.
“They’re supposed to start site work today,” DeWaard said, speaking of the first phase of construction on the school’s new auditorium. He said “site grading and those things” as well as “some remodeling of the interior” were slated to begin Monday.
School’s out and the kids are long gone, so major work at Centennial has gotten the green light to proceed.
In a people matter, DeWaard said three of four staff vacancies are now filled.
Colin Bargen will come from Superior to serve Centennial students as 7-12 principal.
“He’s been the activities director and math teacher at Superior,” said DeWaard. Bargen officially begins Aug. 1, however DeWaard said he’d be surprised if the new principal didn’t appear ahead of that time.
Jennifer Bargen is the second of three new hires at Centennial, where she’ll teach 7-12 math.
“She’s been teaching at Sandy Creek,” said DeWaard.
Phil Payne has signed on to teach 7-12 social studies at Centennial. DeWaard said Payne comes to the district from deep in the Sandhills at Hyannis.
“We’re still trying to hire a special ed teacher,” said DeWaard. “We’re still working on that end. So we’ve got one (vacancy) left ... we’re almost full.”
That remaining vacancy comes about because Ashley Glesmann has left her middle school special ed job at Centennial to become an elementary classroom teacher at Norris, near Lincoln.
“She really wants to get into an elementary classroom and they had one for her,” said DeWaard. “She’ll be good there.”
In other business the board:
• Accepted a bid of $1,250 for a surplus bus. The bus was purchased from the district by Bart’s Detasseling to transport work crews to the fields.
• Authorized purchase of a new overhead door to be installed by Capitol Overhead Door Co. for $1,935. The door will go on the west side of the shop.
• Gave its blessing to installation of a door between the two kindergarten classrooms. The price on this project, said DeWaard, runs to $3,945. The work will require a difficult installation through what once was a heavy-duty exterior wall.
The new door will allow for collaboration between the two kindergarten teachers and offer the ability to group students.
• Set the next meeting for 8 p.m. Monday, June 9.