- January 31, 2025
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Josie Stumpf still has cutouts of her face that her colleagues used to cheer for her when she was named Volusia's 2020 Teacher of the Year. Now, she said, the cutouts can remind her students what she looks like behind the mask.
Holly Hill School Principal Jason Watson led the media on a back-to-school tour on Aug. 27. Photos by Brian McMillan
Teachers have gotten creative with their sanitizer stations.
Amanda Thompson is one of many teachers who put a lot of work into transforming their classrooms at Holly Hill School.
Unnecessary furniture is out of service.
Teachers have gotten creative with their sanitizer stations.
Each desk is equipped with a plexiglass divider.
Students are instructed to walk on the right side of the hallways.
Many classrooms have desks spaced 6 feet apart.
Charlise Robinson teaches seventh- and eighth-grade math.
Teachers are given a box of personal protective equipment, including sanitizer and masks.
Principalm Jason Watson demonstrates the contents of the PPE kits. “A comfortable teacher typically translates into a comfortable student,” he said.
When the pandemic forced an early closure of school buildings in the spring, Holly Hill School teacher Josie Stumpf said she kept in close touch with her students via phone and video chat, which forged deeper relationships than ever.
And yet, she said with tears in her eyes, “They didn’t get the best of me.”
“It’s going to be a great year, even though it’s going to look a little differently."
JASON WATSON, Holly Hill School principal
Many teachers try to make the end of the school year special, and Stumpf had planned a camping-themed unit to bring together everything her fifth- and sixth-grade language arts and social studies students had learned throughout the year. That unit remained in storage.
That’s why this year, despite the health risks of teaching students in person, Stumpf is thrilled to return to the classroom Aug. 31. The masks, social distancing and plexiglass dividers at desks help her to feel that the administration is supportive.
“It’s not frustrating,” Stumpf said. “It’s a little overwhelming, a little emotional.”
She has helped to communicate the protocols to her students’ parents, whose concerns she shares because she is a parent, too. She also doesn’t want to catch anything that she could then transmit to her own parents, who live next door, in Ormond Beach.
Stumpf said she usually has 20 students in the classroom. This year, she’ll have 13 in person for half the day; the other half, she’ll conduct an online version with students who opted for remote learning. In total, Holly Hill School had about 1,100 pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade students last year; this year it will have 850 in classrooms, according to Principal Jason Watson.
The flexibility of the remote learning option, called Volusia Live, could prove useful if COVID-19 cases climb. Students to have to quarantine but are well enough to participate in classes could do so easily if they are already enrolled in Volusia Live, he said. They would then come back academically “unscathed.”
During a media tour Aug. 27, while wearing a jacket with his “house” insignia, a Harry Potter-inspired system to keep students engaged, Watson explained that the school had spent considerable time to communicate the new protocols.
“We really cannot overcommunicate to our families and stakeholders,” he said. In addition to putting the protocols on the school website and adding a demonstration video, the school also conducted parent sessions and scheduled a drive-thru event to distribute schedules and answer more questions. Meet-the-teacher flyers included QR codes that linked to mini biographies of the teachers.
“It’s going to be a great year, even though it’s going to look a little differently,” he said.
Watson said the school has also tried to adjust to feedback. For example, one parent pointed out that the demonstration video depicted a staff member taking a student’s temperature by aiming a gun-like thermometer at the student’s forehead and pulling the trigger.
“It wasn’t an ideal image,” he said. Now, the staff will direct the thermometer at the student’s wrist.
Wherever social distancing is not possible, masks are required in Volusia County schools. School buses, hallways and many classrooms will require masks because desks may not be 6 feet apart.
“When in doubt, mask up,” Watson said.
So far, there is no penalty for not wearing one. Teachers are to direct the students to an administrator, who will then immediately get the parents involved to find a resolution.
“A lot of times, those decisions aren’t theirs — it’s their parents telling them, ‘You don’t have to wear a mask,’” Watson said. “ … We want to make sure we aren’t turning this into a disciplinary issue.”
The cafeteria will encourage social distancing by only seating students on one bench per table. Food will be distributed in a grab-and-go style, and masks will still be required when a student is done eating. Masks will not be required during recess, but playground equipment will be off limits.
Teachers will be given a supply of masks, along with other personal protective equipment including sanitizer.
“A comfortable teacher typically translates into a comfortable student,” Watson said.
