On January 20, 2026, Clark County School District (CCSD) officially adjusted the school start times for elementary, middle and high school students, which will take effect on the first day of the 2026-2027 school year, August 10, 2026. Jhone Ebert, the recently elected Superintendent of CCSD, changed the start times based on a variety of studies. High school students will start at 8:30 a.m., middle school students will start at 7:30 a.m., and elementary school students will start at 9:15 a.m..
Ebert justifies the decision on research, sharing a common misconception “teenagers aren’t lazy in the morning, they’re just biologically wired to stay awake later and wake up later.” Mental health, academic performance, and graduation rates all increase depending on the amount of sleep teenagers enjoy every night. With the later start times, high school students will find challenging themselves easier, considering the extra hour and a half of sleep or time to prepare for the day. With higher engagement throughout the day, high school students’ will focus more on assignments and grades rather than worrying about their sleep schedule.
CCSD shared a one page document summarizing their research that revealed their different sources. The district cited the Seattle school district and their adjustment of school start times in 2016, providing students with an half-hour extra to sleep. One of the document’s sources explain that “a teen’s brain is still in a state of “biological sleep” at 7:00 AM, so waking them then is physiologically equivalent to waking an adult at 4:00 AM.” CCSD high school students currently wake around 5:30 a.m. to arrive at school around 7:00 a.m, equivalent to waking around 2:30 a.m. for adults.
Eventually, students’ mental health and physical health will slowly improve over time with the new start times. The extra time for their bodies to biologically wake up based on their brain’s programming provides high school students more energy to expend throughout their classes.
CCSD also took their own studies and created their decision based on feedback from stakeholders. The district considered surveys taken by students, parents, and community partners who work with students after school. Over 60% of the feedback came from students, the main group affected by start times. CCSD posted the survey during the fall semester and kept it open until October 17, 2025, with answers cast anonymously, influencing the decision making process. When taking the survey, parents frequently wondered “why not just swap elementary and high school start times?”; however, CCSD considered their funding and the families who rely on older siblings to support their younger siblings.
Although high school students will experience an extra amount of sleep, middle school students’ lose half an hour of sleep. Middle school students currently start the school day at 8:00 a.m., but will now start at 7:30 a.m.. The benefits for high school students unfortunately do not apply to middle school students as they must wake up earlier than before.
Providing high school students with more time to sleep overall should help CCSD’s high school student body to feel more engaged throughout the school day, maintaining the proper rest needed to continue their academics. The length of time spent at school will remain the same as current, six hours and 11 minutes.
