LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — School start times will be front and center at Thursday night's Clark County School District Board of Trustees meeting.
Superintendent Jhone Ebert announced a number of changes to the district's bell schedule earlier this week. The new schedule would have most middle-schoolers start school at 7:30 a.m. and high-schoolers start at 8:30 a.m., an hour later than they start now. Most elementary school students would start their days at 9:15 a.m.
Thursday night, the Board of Trustees will get to ask questions, and members of the public can share their thoughts, as well.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at the Greer Education Center on West Sahara Avenue.
Since Ebert's announcement, we've heard a steady stream of questions and concerns from the Southern Nevada community about the superintendent's proposed new start times.
The district gauged community support for later start times through a survey last year that garnered more than 34,000 responses. Most respondents favored adjusting CCSD's bell schedule, but it's worth noting the most popular model among community members is not the model the district is proposing to advance. (It's equally worth noting that there is only a 4% difference in support between the least and most popular bell schedules that community members were asked to weigh in on, with 53.6% favoring the least popular model and 57.4% favoring the most popular option.)
The bell schedule favored by community members would have shifted all school start times back a half-hour, putting high school start times at 7:30 a.m., middle schools at 8:30 a.m., and elementary schools at 9:30 a.m.
CCSD officials have cited transportation logistics as a major concern in their decision, favoring a new bell schedule that doesn't require expensive investments in expanding their school bus fleet.
Shellye Leggett hears from local parents for their reaction to school start time changes:
Ebert has talked about adjusting school start times since she took the helm as CCSD superintendent in April, raising concerns about the impact of sleep on students' mental health and academic performance.
"Research shows that later start times for high school students results in more sleep, reduced anxiety, more alertness with results in improved attendance, standardized test scores, and graduation rates," district officials wrote in their presentation for the Board of School Trustees.
Changes to the CCSD bell schedule are expected to be finalized in April, a district spokesperson told Channel 13, and would take effect in the 2026-27 school year.
Do you have questions, comments, or concerns about new school start times for CCSD? Let's talk about it. Share your thoughts with the Channel 13 team at ktnv.com/letstalk.
