by Theodore Wiesehan

    Voters in Centennial School District will decide the fate of a proposed expansion to the school in a May 15 special election.
     At a March 13 special meeting the Centennial School Board unanimously approved a resolution to run a $4.7-million bond issue for construction of a 550-seat auditorium and a new main entrance.
     The resolution came after Jim Berg of Bahr Vermeer & Haecker Architects, Ltd., and community members presented their recommendation on the course of expansion. The recommendation is the result of four community meetings at which the public debated and refined options for an auditorium and building security enhancements.
     The expansion would add 22,000 square feet to the school and cost an estimated $4,731,000, Berg said.
     In an unrelated matter, the board accepted resignations from Athletic Director LeRoy Ernst and Physical Education Instructor Alex Israelson.
     Ernst retired from the post of Centennial High School principal in 1998, but returned at the board's request to manage the athletic department in 2004.
     "We begged (Ernst) back three years ago and he has done, as he did when he was principal, an outstanding job as athletic director," Centennial Superintendent Dr. Brian Maher said. "We are truly, truly sorry to see him go."
     In a letter to the board, Ernst said he planned to travel, work part time and follow the activities of his 12 grandchildren.
     Israelson had been filling in for Casey Thiele, who resigned at the semester break to take a coaching job at Midland Lutheran College.
     The board approved the hiring of Josh Lanik and Megan Faris to fill the roles of physical education and Spanish teachers, respectively.
     Lanik has two years of teaching experience and served as head football coach at Wood River High School. Maher said the board planned to give Lanik the head coaching position for Centennial's football team next year, as well.
     Faris is currently student teaching at Lincoln Southwest High School and will earn her teaching degree this spring.
     In other business the board:
     • approved a land transfer for two acres of land from Jason Kubicek, Waco, from Exeter-Milligan School District to Centennial School District;
     • approved the nominations of Larry Heine of Waco, Monte Romohr of Gresham and Bob Pollock of Utica to serve three-year terms on the Centennial School Board Foundation Board of Directors;
     • approved nine credits of grauduate course work for Spanish teacher Megan Hammer; and
     • approved a bid from Midwest Floor Covering, Inc., of $36,371 to re-carpet three computer labs and the east classroom pod area.