DWO 04-2020

DAYTONA WEST

Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

SEE WHAT’S OPEN! OrmondBeachObserver.com FREE • APRIL 2020

VOLUME 1, NO. 8

High school students should set a schedule and stick to it

Meet the mask makers Sports apparel company pivots to fill growing need for face masks.

COVID-19 might have closed schools, but local principals say education is still going on.

JARLEENE ALMENAS ASSOCIATE EDITOR

FitUSA Manufacturing’s logo is an antique sewing machine.

It represents getting back to the basics, President Troy Olson said, calling it “old-school, American hard work. And what’s great about this country, he said, is that when challenges arise, people band together. He saw it firsthand in his company.

“Hearts become one, and we just go,” Olson said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, FitUSA manufactured sports apparel. But as events were postponed, and sports seasons suspended, the company had to find a new good to produce to stay financially afloat. That’s where his employees stepped up, Olson said. They suggested FitUSA begin making face masks.

“It made sense,” Olson said.

“Either you close the doors and send people home, or you find a way to get through this and help people across the country.”

Olson and his research team began looking into the components that make up an N95 mask, finding that their sports uniform fabric matched a part of the materials for the mask: the 100% spun

JARLEENE ALMENAS ASSOCIATE EDITOR

As Volusia County Schools dives into the second week of distance learning, local high school principals stressed one point: Students should stay on a schedule.

Mainland High School Principal Tim Huth and Seabreeze High School Principal Joseph Rawlings both said the initial rollout of the online education plan — which uses platforms like Canvas and Edgenuity — has been successful, minus a few access issues the first couple of days. Now, students and staff continue to adjust to this fully virtual way of learning.

“Education is going on,” Huth said. “Instruction is being delivered, and we have been working with the teachers to assist in any way we can with their lessons for the rest of this month, all the way up to the 30th.”

Both schools distributed laptops on Tuesday, April 7.

Huth said some students, especially those who learn better through hands-on methods might find this online instruction challenging, but he said teachers are taking that into consideration and willing to help. In contrast, there are students who only need to read or hear a concept once before grasping it entirely.

SEE MASKS PAGE 4 Photo by Jarleene Almenas

FitUSA employees sew face masks by hand at the manufacturing facility located in the Airport Business Park in Ormond Beach.

SEE SCHOOL PAGE 2

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Through the digital screen Volusia libraries livestream storytime JARLEENE ALMENAS

Local Postal Customer

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Susan Perry picks up her ukulele and sings the “Hello” song alongside Erica Davis, marking the beginning of yet another storytime at the Daytona Beach Regional Library.

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Erica Davis and Susan Perry look into an iPad for storytime on Thursday, March 26.

SEE STORYTIME PAGE 3

DAYTONA WEST OBSERVER

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APRIL 2020

DAYTONA WEST

School work to master distance learning methods CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“As we’re moving through this first week, we’re learning how we need to pace ourselves with all of our students,” Huth said.

Rawlings said many of his students are accustomed to using technology in their classes, as close to half of the teachers delivered instruction through Canvas before the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, being at home, students may struggle with procrastination and self-motivation, he said.

“School is still going on,” Rawl-

LAPTOP DISTRIBUTION SEABREEZE HIGH SCHOOL  The school has about 1,500 students.  About 10% of students are in need of technology for distance learning.  120 parents picked up paper packets for their children last week.

MAINLAND HIGH SCHOOL  The school has about 1,900 students.  Between 18% and 20% are in need of technology, according to Huth.  The school has 400 laptops ready to go.

Observer “If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944

ings said. “It’s just in a different way now.”

DON’T PROCRASTINATE

A science teacher at Seabreeze, who preferred his name not be used, said as of Monday morning, he had connected with 102 of his 161 students. His class used Canvas before the schools shut down because of the pandemic, and he said online work has always been tough with his students. They have a tendency to procrastinate and then do all the work in a couple of all-nighters.

Students can’t do that with distance learning, he said.

“They’re going to have a backlog that might be insurmountable,” he said.

The teacher said parents should make sure their children are going online, and then encourage them to reach out to their friends to do the same. These grades will matter.

“They’re just treating this as another crazy disruption to the academic year, so they don’t see that this is an assignment that’s going to be banked,” he said.

“There’s no way that these courses are going to be forgiven.”

SCHEDULE YOUR SCHOOL DAY

So what should a schedule look like? Huth said students should be working for four to six hours a day and circle back at night if needed to revisit lessons that they need

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Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Seabreeze High School Assistant Principal Lisa Gilbert logs laptops into a chart to help keep track of inventory once it’s distributed.

extra help on, just as they would during a normal school day.

Rawlings recommended students dedicate 45 minutes to each subject every day. He also recommended parents check in with their children every day and make sure they have been in contact with their teachers. He said he knows this is a challenge for parents, but despite the stressors, it’s critical they stay on top of their children’s education.

“Our teachers are reaching

out,” Rawlings said. “They just need to respond when the teachers do.”

Huth said parents and students should be patient and flexible.

“It’s going to be an activity that’s not perfect at this time, but for some of the students that do go on to post-secondary [education], this is going to be an environment that they’re going to learn in,” Huth said. “So they’re getting a little bit of a taste of it at an early age.”

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Online storytime at Volusia libraries

APRIL 2020

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FOSTER PETS Charlie, a 7-year-old of domestic shorthair with a beige and white coat.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Only this time, instead of welcoming a room full of energetic children, they’re looking straight into an iPad. From now until the coronavirus pandemic ceases, Volusia County’s library system will be offering storytimes streamed live every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10:30 a.m. on the Volusia County Public Library Facebook page. The storytimes last about 20 minutes, during which library staff read a couple of books, play short games and perform miniskits encouraging the development of vocabulary and motor skills. On Thursday, March 26, the storytime’s theme was “Sweet on Stories,” and Perry, a children’s librarian, put on a puppet show for the kids, one she had written the day before.

“We’re just glad we got to do this for the children,” Perry said.

Library Project Manager Karen Poulsen said they had considered doing livestreamed bedtime stories before COVID-19, and when the county closed libraries to the public, it was an easy transition to make storytime sessions continue.

Many libraries around the U.S. are doing it, too, she said.

“Our staff has really embraced this,” Poulsen said. “They just jumped right on it. They didn’t skip a beat.”

And while children have a slew of material to watch online nowadays, Poulsen said this gives them the opportunity to see familiar faces and hear songs they know

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DeeDee, a 7-year-old terrier and American Staffordshire mix with a black coat.

Hercules, a 2-year-old Labrador mix with a brown coat.

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Erica Davis and Susan Perry hold the puppets Perry used during the show on Thursday, March 26.

well. It’s a source of comfort, she said.

Davis, Daytona’s Launch Pad librarian, said it was strange to have adults sitting in the room, rather than the kids. However, she said this service helps parents retain a part of their pre-COVID-19 routines for those whose children attended regularly, or begin a new routine for parents still adjusting to this new situation.

“This is what kids need — they need the storytime, especially when they don’t have school right

now, too,” Davis said.

Perry misses her “regulars.”

She’s known a few of them since they were 2 or 3 years old.

“I know this isn’t forever,” Perry said. “We’re all looking forward to getting back to normal one of these days.”

Volusia County’s libraries are also offering curbside service.

Book bundles for parents who are unsure of what to check out for their kids are also available. Call your local library for more information, or visit volusialibrary. org.

“I know this isn’t forever,” Perry said. “We’re all looking forward to getting back to normal one of these days.”

SUSAN PERRY

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MADE IN VOLUSIA

Face masks CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

polyester.

Olson thought that their sports jersey fabric had to be better for making masks than simple cotton, but he was challenged with finding a way to cut through the red tape.

“It’s hard to think outside the box, because we’ve never been put in this position in our history,” Olson said. “So I knew we had to help. There had to be a way.”

Ormond Beach Economic Development Director Brian Rademacher had been working with Olson to facilitate the transition from sports apparel to masks, and he suggested they listen in to an emergency management call with state and health care representatives in midMarch regarding the coronavirus outbreak.

“During that entire phone call, all we heard repeatedly was, ‘We need PPE. We need face masks.

We need gowns. We need all this stuff,’” Rademacher said.

Olson got a chance to jump in and say his company was ready to start making face masks and personal protective equipment — gowns, face masks or other garments meant to protect the wearer from biohazards — and that he just needed direction.

Two minutes later, Olson was on the phone with representatives from Halifax Health. By noon that day, he was sitting inside DME

Sports Academy presenting prototypes for a basic surgical face mask.

By 2 p.m., FitUSA was officially in the mask-making business.

The company is selling its basic face masks for $6.75. FitUSA is also offering a tri-layer fitted mask for $13.25; it is pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The masks are all reusable and washable, and Olson said they should last over 30 washes.

In contrast to other companies across the nation, pivoting its business to mask production has also allowed FitUSA to hire more employees. Olson said he’s lost track of how many employees he currently has.

From an economic standpoint, Rademacher said having companies like FitUSA, and others, in Ormond Beach who continue to hire and provide services is beneficial.

“It’s pretty amazing to see that there is still that opportunity to have them producing and providing benefits to the local economy,” Rademacher said.

Though the business transition happened quickly, for Olson, the move went beyond financial logistics.

“At the end of this, when we come out of this, we just want to be able to say we made a difference, and I know our staff out there — their heart and soul is in it,” he said.

“Either you close the doors and send people home, or you find a way to get through this and help people across the country.”

TROY OLSON, president of FitUSA Manufacturing.

MADE IN VOLUSIA In a continuing series, the Observer will be exploring how local businesses are responding to the coronavirus outbreak.

Send your ideas to jarleene@ ormondbeachobsever. com.

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

LIMITED TIME SAVINGS! A FitUSA employee works on cutting fabric to make personal protective equipment prototypes.

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