Brighton Area Schools Calendar 2026-2027

The most consequential transition in Brighton Area Schools happens in fifth grade. Students from Hawkins, Hilton, Hornung, and Spencer elementary schools leave their K–4 communities and meet at Maltby Intermediate School. Maltby uses a transition model designed specifically for fifth- and sixth-graders: small interdisciplinary teacher teams, nearby classrooms for core subjects, and rotating art, physical education, world language, music, or band. The arrangement is intended to make the first districtwide merger feel smaller than the enrollment suggests.

Students make a second transition at Scranton Middle School for grades 7–8 and then enter Brighton High School. Alongside that main sequence, The Bridge serves students ages 14–19 who need a different high-school design. Smaller classes, differentiated instruction, part-time possibilities, individualized career planning, and a nontraditional weekly structure allow academic support, credit recovery, enrichment, and vocational work to be combined more deliberately.

Brighton’s organization is defined by two different forms of transition support. Maltby helps students enter a larger secondary system without losing a team-based environment; The Bridge gives some older students a supported way to revise how they complete high school. Together, the two programs place smaller-scale support at very different points in a student’s progress through the district.