Brighton Area Schools superintendent urges students to plan courses as scheduling opens

Superintendent Matt Outlaw of Brighton Area Schools used a district video update to remind families that January is a busy month for academics and course scheduling, and to encourage students to consider career-technical and music programs as they choose classes for 2025–26.

“This is a busy month academically,” Superintendent Matt Outlaw said, noting that high school students and some middle school students are taking midyear exams. He said scheduling for the 2025–26 school year is underway across the district, especially for students in grades 5 through 12.

Outlaw urged high school students to explore elective programs outside required courses, singling out engineering, health occupations, business, graphic arts and other career and technical education classes as ways for students to “try out different professions and see what they might be interested in.” He encouraged intermediate-school families to consider music education, saying the district’s band, orchestra and choir programs are “absolutely fantastic” and citing research that music can help develop the brain.

Outlaw also summarized items included in the district newsletter: a feature he called a “generational gift” about role models, results from a district survey whose next steps he said the board of education will decide over the coming months, information about snow days, and a student recognition for Jean Marie Mafa of Scranton Middle School.

The update was delivered as a superintendent message to “Bulldog families” and ran roughly three to four minutes. No formal actions or votes were announced in the recording; Outlaw said only that the board will make a decision about the survey results in the coming months.

The message closed with holiday well-wishes and a call for a productive January.