It’s that time of year when summer is hovering on the distant horizon, beyond the AP exams and finals. However, after that long, blissful summer, the 2026–2027 school year will look different. Alarms will be shifted to later, the sunrays will make an appearance through your window, and it’ll be nearly evening by the time you get home from school. Not only will the middle and high school timings swap places, but an extra 10 minutes will be added to the school day as well. The reason for this switch rests on one major principle: the safety of middle school students.

According to the Cross Timbers Gazette, LISD board member Michelle Alkhatib has seen middle school students waiting outside the doors over an hour early without supervision. Since middle school students can’t drive to school, their transportation and arrival time are often left to the fate of their parents’ work schedule. In addition, asking staff to come in earlier to supervise the students adds another complication, since it would cost extra money, adding another weight to the district’s budget constraints. The staff aren’t the only ones who have taken notice of this issue. Vice President Katherine Sells stated that she gets more emails and phone calls about middle school drop-off times than any other issue, prompting them to take action. The district has been informed of a new transportation schedule for buses that starts with elementary students, followed by middle school, and finally high school students. The goal of this new plan is to improve the district’s transportation system.

Despite the increased middle school safety these new timings offer, it comes at a cost to high schoolers, even if they do get more sleep. Changing the schedule shifts extracurricular activities and impacts students who have jobs after school. In addition, some students may not be able to work with the new timings of their extracurriculars, leading to scheduling conflicts or some students no longer being able to participate. As a result, many high school students are opposed to this new change.

“High school students have a very packed schedule… because of athletics… jobs and extracurriculars,” said rising senior Aishwarya Vyas. “I feel like if they were to move the times, I would say switch it with elementary, so maybe start earlier and end [earlier], so [high schoolers] can attend those things. It’s very inconvenient for students.”

Switching the start times between middle and high school students isn’t the only change the district is making. In addition, there will be 10 extra minutes added to the school day. This new change is viewed favorably by teachers who want extra time for planning, flexibility, advisory, or recess. However, for students, it makes for a potentially exhausting school day.

“There’s good and bad to it because as a person who lives 20 minutes away from school, it’s a little hard to commute here every single day,” said Hasini Masna, a current sophomore. “I feel like, yes, a later start time can be good, because I get to have more sleep [after] studying late at night… It kind of contradicts itself at the same time, because school is also ending later, and we also have more… minutes in school. Honestly, it’s counterproductive, in my opinion.”

While many students might appreciate the extra sleep and morning sunshine, many feel frustrated about how this new schedule will affect their after-school activities. Whether the new changes will have the intended effect remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: the 2026–2027 school year will definitely be a new adjustment.

The timings for the 2026–2027 school year will be as follows:
High schools: 8:50 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Middle schools: 8:15 a.m. – 3:40 p.m.
Elementary schools: 7:40 a.m. – 3:05 p.m.