Should CCSD start school 30 minutes later?

The Clark County School District is seeking feedback on a proposal to shift school start times.

The school district is considering having all schools start 30 minutes later beginning next school year, and it launched a survey Friday to gauge sentiment on the potential change. The short survey asks community members whether they support the proposal and to rate the potential benefits and challenges implementing the shift could cause.

“We are asking our entire community to participate in this survey to get an accurate pulse on the topic,” Superintendent Jhone Ebert said in a news release. “We understand that any change we make to school start times impacts our employees, students, families, and even businesses across Clark County. It’s important to hear from our community.”

Under the current bell schedule, school in the district typically begins at 7 a.m. for high schools, 8 a.m. for middle schools and 9 a.m. for elementary schools.

The school district cited research linking later school start times to improved sleep quality, increased academic performance and lower rates of depression, anxiety and stress among students. The district said it is exploring this potential change to create a schedule that better serves the community while minimizing the fiscal impact.

Unsuccessful past pushes

School start times have long been debated as district leaders try to balance student well-being and the needs of parents with decreased funding and a limited bus fleet. More than half of all schools in the district saw start time adjustments in 2022, creating 7 a.m. start times for some high schools, among other changes, to ensure bus services ran on time.

In 2023, the Nevada State Board of Education sought to make all high schools begin no earlier than 8 a.m., but that effort was met with pushback from school district officials who requested those changes be made at a local level.

The state board’s attempt caused the school district to consider multiple options to adjust start times, which drew concerns over increased transportation costs. School district buses currently transport approximately 120,000 students over more than 1,500 routes every day.

Ebert previously said she supports pushing school start times to later in the day.

Students, parents and staff in the school district, as well as community members, are encouraged to complete the survey before it closes at 5 p.m. Oct. 17.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.