Judy Stll

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - When Judy Still was looking through the classifieds in a local newspaper, she found a very interesting job prospect. It was the description, though, that didn’t make much sense to her.

It said, “TIS Rosa,” leading her to wonder just what a “‘tis Rosa” was.

As it turned out, it meant that The Island School was looking for a reading specialist, and the contact person was then-principal Rosa Ramos.

Judy still laughs when she thinks about that confusing “tis Rosa” message, but she takes her job at The Island School very seriously. She spends much of her time reading to the children, and helping to foster a love of books in their minds and souls.

“It’s funny, because I remember my first assignment in college was to read a book to the local schoolchildren,” she said. “I postponed it two times because I was so nervous about it. They were just regular school kids, but I was terrified. Now reading to children is actually my comfort level.”

Judy was born and raised in the Northeast, and still has a home in Massachusetts. While she travels back and forth from Florida to her Cape Cod home, she is spending more and more time here on the Suncoast. It is for many reasons: Good friends, good weather, and her love of The Island School.

When Judy was young and living in Vermont, her father worked for the telephone company and her mother was a part-time bookkeeper and homemaker. Because of her father’s job, the family moved around frequently when she was young, putting her in eight different towns and eight different schools. It was, she said, extremely difficult to adapt.

She stayed in that area for 27 years, until her brother drew her to Cape Cod.

After going to Johnson State College in Vermont and eventually obtaining a Master’s degree in education, Judy started teaching. She taught, and she taught, and she taught. As the years passed she began to feel a specific fear creeping into her conscience. That fear was of receiving a gold watch.

“I was afraid of that watch and what it signified,” she said. “It would mean I had spent my whole life teaching and wouldn’t know how to do anything else. So I took a leave of absence for a year and headed to my brother’s marina in Yarmouth, Mass.”

Judy tried a lot of different things, and became a sort of “jack of all trades.” She made fishing nets, she was a commercial fisherman, she waitressed and she cleaned houses. She admits she wasn’t the best housecleaner, but with every experience she learned a little bit more – about each profession and about herself.

“After my year was up I decided to stay there,” Judy said. “Then I met my husband, Chick, at a friend’s party. It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was a really good thing.”

Judy and Chick had a son, Michael. He was born with a cystic hygroma, and visits to hospitals all around the area became commonplace. Michael was part  of the reason that Judy began looking into getting certified to teach special education. While her son is incredibly brilliant, the trials and tribulations the family went through because of the hygroma made her realize that not all children are born classically “perfect” – mentally or physically.

After spending about five years at home focusing on being a mom, Judy had a new take on what it is to be a parent.

“I remember when I first started teaching in Vermont I watched a little boy walk in the school with no boots on and an uncooked Pop Tart in his hand,” she laughed. “At the time I thought it was terrible. I didn’t understand how a mother could do that ... until I had my own son.”

She continued on a more serious note.

“When I see the parents of some of these children, some that have pretty severe disabilities, their family structure really impresses me. The birth of Michael made me realize the amount of love and care that are needed. Those are some of the people I really admire the most.”

When Michael was 8-years-old, Chick passed away. Judy had been working part-time at miscellaneous jobs and cleaning houses, and suddenly she realized she had to do a lot more than that to keep her head above water.

”I always had an interest in special education, even as a kid,” she said. “I had also wanted to be a doctor. I started to go back to school to be an occupational therapist, but with everything Michael and I were going through it was a little too much. So I turned to special education training.”

Judy started to work with children who have different learning styles, such as those with autism. She also trained in some of the more modern technological training.

“Some of these kids use a very sophisticated technology, such as eyegazing computers (used through the computer, reading the user’s eye movement),” she said. “I did assessment projects at daycare centers as well, I taught the employees how to teach and how to read to the kids. Eventually, I even drove a bookmobile!”
Judy’s training in special education is quite deep. It involves knowing how to assess special-needs students, including measurements of progress.

There was psychology work involved as well. She spent a lot of time collaborating with other teachers to find the best methodology to reach her students.

“Most of my ability to do what I do well has been through working with other teachers,” she said. “but one of my primary ways of teaching is to listen to the kids. They will tell me what works.”

When Judy discovered Florida it was through friends from high school. One of her girlfriends was on the east coast, and she eventually rekindled a friendship with her friend’s brother as well. She started coming down sporadically, but still spent most of her time “up North.” As the years have gone by, though, she has found herself spending more and more time in Florida.

"My son, Michael, also lives on the east coast of Florida,” Judy said. “But on a visit to this coast with my friend I realized I loved the small-town feel of Englewood. That’s when I started coming here. Now I rent a place there, and I love it.”

Judy was working at the GAP School in Sarasota prior to teaching at The Island School. The GAP School is for special-needs children, particularly those with autism. It was a long drive from Englewood to Sarasota every school day, though, and when she saw the “‘tis Rosa” ad and realized it was in Boca Grande, she applied for the position.

That was two years ago, and Judy has worked with students at the little school ever since, doing reading, tutoring and consulting.

Judy and her friend also took a trip-of-a lifetime recently. They decided to go to the Galapagos Islands, where they swam, climbed volcanoes, snorkeled and, of course, saw the giant tortoises.

“My girlfriend’s mother had shown us films of the islands, and we both knew we wanted to go there,” she explained. “It was my first time out of the country except to go to Mexico, and it was the trip of a lifetime. The people there have really learned how to honor their environment. You can’t even get on the islands without a national parks guide accompanying you. They know what they have is priceless, and they’re not willing to let it go.”

Judy also got into kayaking in the last few years. Her house on the Cape is only two blocks from the ocean, and that is where she got started. From the ponds to the ocean, Judy is more content in her kayak than in most places. It is her escape, her serenity and her peace.

She still hasn’t spent much time kayaking here, but has determined that she might be selling her kayak there to purchase one down here.

In all, she has come to love Florida, and The Island School, and think of both as a second home.

“I’ll be working at the school for as long as I can,” she said. “It’s a place with wonderful people, and I’m interested in doing what is best for the school and the children. It’s nice that I found this place. I truly feel I’ve been given a gift.”

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