Brighton school board members were told at their meeting last Monday that a committee has selected a qualified teacher to coordinate and instruct the new orchestra program that will begin in the fall.

The district had not had orchestra as an elective in the past, but an improving financial picture has led the board to add the instrumental music program beginning with the fifth grade and eventually proceeding though high school.

A committee consisting of administrators, teachers and parents has chosen Steven Hernandez to be the teacher. In its initial year, Hernandez will be teaching just 5th graders, with the intention to add a grade each year. That way, Supt. Greg Gray tells WHMI, it will assure a continuous field of candidates from year to year. Gray adds he wants the orchestra program to also go down into the lower grades as well. In the first year, while the orchestra program is in its infancy, Hernandez will also help out with other music programs in the district.

Elsewhere, the board was told the committee’s choices to fill two vacant administrative positions. Among them is William Renner as principal at Spencer Elementary for the retiring Mary Williams. Renner spent 15 years as a teacher in the Brighton Area Schools before becoming principal of an elementary school in the Brandon School District.

The other selection is Jennifer Hiller, a former assistant principal at Farmington High School, who has been picked as a grade-level principal at Scranton Middle School in Brighton. The board is expected to confirm the hirings at its meeting on June 26. (TT)