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School News
By Mr. Scott Mangas, Superintendent
It is hard to believe that October 24th marked the end of our first nine weeks. We are already 25% of the way through the 2025–2026 school year! The fall season has been full of activity—volleyball, cross country, field trips and staff professional development have kept everyone busy.
Volleyball
After losing two key seniors and fielding a team with no seniors for the 2025 season, the Panther Volleyball Team exceeded expectations. While the 4–9 record may not fully reflect their performance, the team’s resilience was evident—they lost four matches in five sets and showed steady improvement throughout the season.
The Panthers played their best volleyball late in the season, setting a strong foundation for next year. Coach Schuffenecker praised his team:
“The ladies worked hard to get better and, by the end of the year, really met their potential. I’m really excited to have everyone back next season. Thank you to all the parents and community for their support.”
Cross Country
The cross country 2025 season was filled with numerous successes, and the runners continuously handled adversity throughout the season while dealing with injuries, balancing school and pushing their bodies to obtain a PR each and every meet. Although the team lacked experience and age, one thing they never struggled with was motivation and drive. From the beginning of the season to the end it has been a pleasure as a coach to see the athletes understand that hard work and discipline does pay off. We also had great leadership from our captain this year, Caleb Kowlaski, who showed up every practice and meet and was leading by example along with holding his teammates accountable everyday. The Junior High team consisting of Eli Heineman, Beckett Dobos, Landon Dillon, Carlos Juarez, Melody O’Donnell and Harper Scarpelli showed tremendous growth from the very first practice until their last meet. A huge shout out to both of our female runners Melody O’Donnel and Harper Scarpelli who were both able to take a medal home after at least one of our meets. Harper Scarpelli came out the gate of the season and was able to place in the teams first meet coming in 20th place at Seneca East. Melody O’Donnell was able to come in 12th place at the teams Huron meet with a PRs of 14.47. As a coach I could not have asked for a better season from all of the kids and could not be more proud with how the team ended its season competing at both the High School Districts and the 7th and 8th Grade Postseason meets. As a team we had multiple new personal records set specifically from Beckette Dobos, Landon Dillion, Melody O’Donnel and Carlos Juarez.
Field Trips
Our elementary students enjoyed a fun fall adventure visiting Fleitz Pumpkin Farm and Witt’s Apple Orchard. Pictured here is the entire elementary group, along with our 4-year-olds enjoying donuts and apple juice.
Our high school art classes traveled to Cleveland, where they visited the Aquarium, a glass-blowing studio and a paper-making conservatory.
Thanxmas Concert
Mark your calendars! Our Thanxmas Concert will be held on November 20th at 7PM. This program is all about the spirit of Christmas, and we hope to see many families and community members join us for this special event before the holiday break.
Staff Professional Development
On October 17th, our school staff participated in a full day of professional development.
In the morning, we completed CPR training—a huge thank-you to the Put-in-Bay EMS for providing this important service.
In the afternoon, staff received Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) training, led by Susie Leone from Perkins Schools.
We appreciate the efforts of everyone who helped make this training day successful and beneficial for our team.
We are off to a great start and look forward to a smooth and successful rest of the school year. Thank you to our parents, staff and community for your continued support of Put-in-Bay School and our Panther students!
The previous piece is published in this month’s Put-in-Bay Gazette. The Gazette has been producing incredible independent Put-in-Bay island news for over 40 years. If you have any interest at all in what is happening on South Bass Island, we urge you strongly to subscribe to the Put-in-Bay Gazette. One-year online subscriptions are only $15, and print subscriptions are available as well. To subscribe please click here.
