Welcome Back to School! Here's What's New

With each new school year comes new changes, so we thought we'd bring you up to speed with any new teachers and new features at Brighton-area schools. Schools are listed in alphabetic order.

Brighton Area Schools — Districtwide

• Starting this year, every elementary school in the district—Hawkins, Hilton, Hornung and Spencer—will be offering full-day kindergarten. The options for half-day kindergarten and junior kindergarten, for younger kids with late birthdays, are still available. 
• Day start and end times for elementary schools: 8:50 a.m. and 3:50 p.m.
• Day start and end times for Maltby: 8:33 a.m. and 3:31 p.m.
• Day start and end times for Scranton: 7:50 a.m. and 2:45 p.m.
• Day start and end times for Brighton High School: 7:30 a.m. and 2:23 p.m.

• The high school is down to three principals after having four last year. Kirk Hobson was transferred to Scranton Middle School, leaving Gavin Johnson (principal of 12th grade), Jack Yates (ninth and 11th) and Henry Vecchioni (10th). The principal reassignment was recommended by the Board of Education.
• A mobile laptop lab was added thanks to as well as improvements made to two existing desktop labs.
• Washtenaw Community College added more classes at its campus at the high school.
• The gym floor

• Replaced old plastic playground with a new one made with all-natural wood. The previous playground was replaced because it was not up to code.
• Offering Spanish now instead of French.
• Class sizes are down from 32 kids to 24.
• Kitchen flooring and countertops were redone.

• New teachers: Paul Woodward (high school English), Susan Heiss (high school science), Joel Render (high school math), Lauren Weller (middle school math), Kimberly Zepp (middle school math), Jessica Perry (music) and Laura Fritag (special education).
• Partnering with Volunteer Livingston this year to give students more opportunities to fulfill community service requirements for graduation.
• Instituting a National Junior Honor Society chapter for the middle school.

• New teacher is Heather Kosov, who is teaching 4-year-olds in the afternoon Monday through Thursday.

• Now using the portable classroom outside the building for music classes.

• New carpeting in hallways, offices and media center.
• Media center was rearranged for a new look.
• Garden beautification will begin for the courtyard memorial garden, which honors Shelley Squires-Compton, a Hilton teacher who passed away in 1996.
• A new memorial garden and fountain will be created for Elle Murphy, a Hilton second-grader who died of cancer last November.

Holy Spirit Roman Catholic School

• Increased enrollment brought in 18 new students.

• The school year begins their shared time program with Brighton Area Schools, which brings in public school teachers to teach elective classes.

• No new updates to report specifically regarding Hornung.

• New teachers: Hallie Steckler (special education) and Christina Battle (special education).

• Added the which will bring Brighton Area Schools teachers in to teach elective classes part time. New electives offered or supplemented by Brighton teachers include physical education, computers, foreign language, art and music.
• Added Chinese as a new language taught.

• New principal is Juli VanDeven.
• Now offering classes up to the sixth-grade level.
• Fourth and fifth grade will be together in one class this year.
• Participating in the  with Brighton Area Schools, which brings in public school teachers to teach electives part time. Those teachers will be teaching technology and physical education at Shepherd of the Lakes.
• Added Battle Creek science kits, which are a hands-on science and religion curriculum. 
• Added Spanish, to be taught from first to fifth grade.
• Added choir for elementary students.

• New principals are Debbie Higgins (seventh grade), who was at Hawkins Elementary previously, and Kirk Hobson (eighth grade), who came over from Brighton High School.
• The majority of from the Plymouth-Canton school district will be used in Scranton.
• New carpet in the offices and hallways.

• A breakfast program is being offered for the first time. Breakfast will be served for students every day at 8:30 a.m.
• The school for classrooms and a mobile smartboard.

• New teachers: Kathy Droese (middle school language arts) and Rachel Diven (middle school language arts).

• Beginning the shared time program, which brings in teachers from Brighton Area Schools to instruct students in elective courses.