Lange named principal of Southridge Middle School

Thursday, in a specially scheduled board meeting, the Southwest Dubois County School Board of Trustees hired Betsy Lange as the principal of Southridge Middle School.

Ms. Lange comes to Southridge from Noblesville East Middle School, where she has earned numerous awards, including being named the Middle School Teacher of the Year. While there, she served as the Mathematics Department Chair, conducted classroom observations while providing instructional feedback to teachers, and led numerous building- and district-level professional development seminars for teachers.

She brings many other skills and qualities, including experiences in data collection, implementing improvement plans for student achievement based on collected data, curriculum writing, curriculum development and adoption, and working with students from diverse backgrounds, including students with special needs.

Ms. Lange also brings a wealth of experience from her first career, where she worked as an engineer for Eastman Kodak and was promoted to numerous leadership roles in her career with the company.

Ms. Lange earned her undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University. “I’m a big Purdue fan,” she admitted.

She went on to earn two Master’s Degrees in Business Administration (University of Rochester) and in Education at Ball State University–where she attended along with her son while he worked on his master’s degree–before earning her Administrator’s License from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Before becoming a teacher, Ms. Lange worked as an instructional assistant for eight years.

Betsy graduated from Pike Central High School, where she was a member of the National Honor Society, played basketball, and ran track. She was the recipient of an academic scholarship to attend Purdue University.

“I have a lot of fond memories of competing at Southridge,” she said. “The players always had good sportsmanship, and the coaches were great.”

She is looking forward to being back home in Southern Indiana. “It’s amazing to have an opportunity to come back home,” Ms. Lange said.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring Betsy into our district as part of our team. She has a phenomenal background in leadership both in the business world and in education,” said Southwest Dubois County School Corporation Superintendent Chip Mehaffey. “Her colleagues that we spoke with continually spoke about how much they loved working for her and with her. The other common theme we heard numerous times involved how much students love Ms. Lange. Betsy will be a dynamic leader for our middle school students and staff.”

Betsy has three children and one grandchild. Her children are graduates of Ball State University, DePaul University and Vincennes University.

Betsy enjoys spending time with family, attending Purdue sporting events, hiking, visiting National Parks, and painting in her home studio.

She looks forward to becoming a part of the Southwest Dubois community.

She will take on her new role at the middle school in January.