Concerned citizens lined up outside the Southwest Dubois School Corporation Administration building on the evening of Thursday, March 16th, to express their desire for the swimming pool at Southridge High School to be brought back to working order. Following years of leaks the pool was drained in February 2022 and has remained unusable ever since. 18 WJTS’s Joyce Murrell dives deeper into this community-wide issue.
Story by Joyce Murrell.
Stock footage provided by Pond5
Story Transcript:
Kaitlyn Neukam: “Concerned citizens lined up outside the Southwest Dubois School Corporation Administration building on the evening of Thursday, March 16th, to express their desire for the swimming pool at Southridge High School to be brought back to working order. Following years of leaks the pool was drained in February 2022 and has remained unusable ever since. OUR JOYCE MURRELL HAS MORE:”
Joyce Murrell: “An online petition to garner support for the pool’s repairs accumulated more than 1,100 signatures in less than a week. The description of the document noted several accolades of Southridge swimmers, community uses of the space, and social benefits of a local, indoor pool facility. Thursday’s School Board meeting began with a statement on behalf of the board to inform the crowd of their intentions to explore potential solutions for the pool and to schedule additional meetings with forums available for public comment. A half-hour segment of the meeting was dedicated to community members who elaborated on other issues causing concern. Larry Fuehsler, a Southridge swimmer parent, made time to come to our studio to explain his perspective. “
Joyce Murrell: “Fuehsler’s comments concluded with a request that some form of decision, whether it’s the closing or repair of the pool, by the next board meeting. Perhaps the most compelling comments of the evening came from Southridge senior swimmer, Calista Martin.”
Joyce Murrell: “Since the SHS pool has been out of commission the Raiders have been at the mercy of other local programs’ facility availability and have been traveling to those spaces as time allows. However, the time commitment and the inability to use the pool at the school they attend have driven several athletes to quit the Southridge swimming programs. Martin ended her comments with a stark reminder of the Southridge Athletic Department motto, “20 Sports, 1 team,” and simply requested the swimmers to be treated as such.”
Kaitlyn Neukam: “The Southwest Dubois County School Board assured attendees that they are tediously working on finding solutions and will establish future meetings to hear additional public comments.”
