Rebecca Stumpf
Rebecca Stumpf is an experienced education leader currently serving as the Coordinator for the TPSS Virtual Learning Option within the Tangipahoa Parish School System in Hammond, Louisiana. In this role, she oversees a K–12 virtual education program, managing day-to-day operations that include parent communication, student enrollment and verification, staff coaching, and the coordination of virtual orientations. She has played a key role in strengthening and modernizing the program since assuming leadership, including the development of a dedicated program website, school branding such as a mascot, and the expansion of fully virtual onboarding processes for students and families.
With a career in education spanning nearly two decades, Rebecca’s professional journey began in 2007 as a paraprofessional following Hurricane Katrina, later transitioning into classroom teaching after completing alternative certification in Louisiana. She went on to serve in multiple instructional and leadership roles, including mathematics teacher, curriculum facilitator, assistant principal, and elementary principal within both traditional and virtual school settings. Notably, she held leadership positions with Louisiana Connections Academy, where she gained extensive experience in virtual education and K–5 school administration, shaping her expertise in online learning environments and instructional leadership.
Rebecca holds a Doctorate in Education in Educational Leadership from Southeastern Louisiana University (2023) and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the American Public University System. Her doctoral research focused on teaching presence, social presence, and knowledge authority in K–12 virtual learning environments. She is recognized for her commitment to instructional innovation, including the integration of emerging technologies such as AI-supported learning platforms, and for her educational philosophy centered on collaboration between students, families, and educators in successful virtual learning ecosystems.
• Alternative Certification to Teach in Louisiana
• Leadership Certification in Louisiana
• Southeastern Louisiana University - EdD
• Harley Owners Group
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being very driven and very motivated. No one in my family had a doctorate degree - not on my husband's side or mine - so I am the first one in my family to have a doctorate degree. That drive pushed me to earn three degrees in a very short time. Looking at all of my experiences, I wrote my dissertation on knowledge development in a K-12 environment, and having all of my experiences culminate to this day - being able to bring everything I've experienced, everything I've learned, every challenge that I have overcome to lead this program right now - I feel is the greatest accomplishment that I have had. Being able to take everything that I know and everything I have experienced in my past and use it to grow this program so that I leave a much better program to the future is what drives me.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest changes and opportunities in virtual education right now involve AI-generated platforms. When I started in virtual education, we had an LMS and we were building curriculum and it was being placed on a virtual platform in a learning management system. Today, we have AI-generated platforms. We're about to implement a program here that's going to allow the AI aspect of it to say, if a student says they're struggling with a concept or don't know how to do something, the AI platform is going to be able to redirect the student to where in the lesson they need to go back and review, re-watch, or practice, or provide additional support. That is how the changes have occurred in AI with virtual education. For me, that understanding and being able to network with other people who may be involved in AI is going to be very poignant for where I'm headed with moving this program.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
What I find most rewarding is helping students where they are to achieve what they need to be successful adults in our society, whether that be on a career journey or whether that be on a college journey. Every child deserves that path, and they deserve every opportunity to reach their highest potential. I've had the privilege to do that for many children. The mentorship that you get to provide to students is different in this type of virtual environment, because the relationship you build is just different. Being able to provide virtual learning within the district allows families to make that choice for their children, but it is for the right child with the right family who is going to support the student at home. Virtual learning is a triangular relationship between the student, the learning partner at home, and the teacher, the facilitator in the learning environment.
Locations
Tangipahoa Parish School System
Hammond, LA 70403