SW Dubois School Board Honors Teachers, Advances Middle School Improvement Plans

From celebrating standout teachers to planning millions in school improvements, the Southwest Dubois school board tackled a wide-ranging agenda this week. 

Congratulations were given to the recipients of the second annual Teacher of the Year Award. Southridge High School math teacher Nicole Hopf and Holland Elementary teacher Lindsey Sickbert were this year’s honorees. Other significant items were noted by the board. Graduation ceremonies will be held this week for South Ridge High School and the Southridge Alternative Learning Center. Christina Qualkenbush, a fifth-grade teacher at Huntingburg Elementary, will be retiring after 31 years of serving in Southwest Dubois schools. 

The district’s Director of Student Services, Tiffany Beckley, gave a presentation on WEDA and the IREAD Summer School program. WEDA is Indiana’s English language proficiency assessment. It measures language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Teachers also use WEDA’s English language development standards framework as a foundation for their curriculum instruction assessment for English Language Learners. 
 
EL students are identified through home language surveys. A WEDA screener determines English proficiency through a screener. If placed as an EL student, a language plan is developed and implemented until proficiency is reached. 

IREAD Summer School will be starting next week, and there are 52 students currently enrolled. Second grade students who scored at risk on the recent testing in March and May attend the summer program to receive remediation instruction before another round of testing. Any student who does not pass in grade three will then be retained if they do not qualify for a good cause exemption. This could include some special education students, EL students enrolled for less than two years in Indiana, or students who have previously been retained. 

The first hearing was held on the preliminary determination to issue bonds for improvement projects. Superintendent Chip Mehaffey discussed some of the concerns that will be addressed with these projects. That includes “an aging middle school that will very soon struggle to handle the student enrollment that we have in our current elementary grades.” Last year’s enrollment at Southridge Middle School was 395 students, and it increased to 430 this year. For the 28-29 year, expected enrollment will be 496. Most of the building systems have not been upgraded since construction in the 80s, and there is not a secure entrance. An architect presented potential solutions that will upgrade finishes and classroom equipment, create a corridor with lockers and accessible classrooms, update HVAC and replace aging roof surfaces, among other things. 

As buses serve more students, Mehaffey said “the district will need to be ready to purchase more buses, have a place to park them, and be able to have a place to maintain them to do maintenance on those buses.” An agreement was made to purchase a building across the street for use as a transportation building, which will be about one third of the cost of new construction. 

For budget impact, the middle school project will cost an estimated $13 million. The transportation project will be another $1 million in the cost of buses and the renovation of the new building. The project can be completed without increasing current rates for taxpayers. No action was required by the board at this time, and the second public hearing will be held on June the 18th, 2026 at 5:30 pm. 

Southwest Dubois County School Corporation regular board meetings are open to the public and are held on the third Thursday of the month from 5:30-6:30. The SWDCS board room is located at 105 W Sunset Dr., Huntingburg IN. 

For more information on these and other updates, visit www.swdubois.k12.in.us/school-board


 - By Drew Hasselbring