School Start &

Dismissal Times

Phase I--Task Force: February 2014-December 2014
Phase II--New Work: January 2015-December 2015
Phase III--Community Involvement: January 2016-February 2016
Phase IV--Board Requested Options: March 2016-Present

Montgomery County, MD: 2014

In 2015, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to change school start and dismissal times for the 2015-2016 school year:

  • High schools start at 7:45 and dismiss at 2:30 (20 minute shift)
  • Middle schools start at 8:15 and dismiss at 3:00 (20 minute shift)
  • Elementary schools start between 9:00-9:25 and dismiss between 3:25-3:50. (In addition to shifting the start of elementary schools by 10 minutes, the change also lengthened the elementary school day by 10 minutes.
  • You can see the 2015-16 New Bell Scheduld, Overview of the Bell Time Options, and other information about this change  here.

AACPS contacted Montgomery County with questions about the process of changing start times in their county. Click here to see their response.

This work begain in December 2012, when Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Dr. Joshua P. Starr directed staff to convene a work group—including community stakeholders—to develop options to address students’ need for more sleep, and in particular, to consider adjustments to school start times. The 2013 High School Bell Times Work Group presented its findings in September 2013.

During the 2013-2014 school year, Dr. Starr combined discussions of changing school start times with the extension of the elementary school day by 30 minutes.  In June 2014, Dr. Starr announced that he was withdrawing his support of the options. In the memorandum announding the dicision, Dr. Starr cited high costs (over $21 million) and stated that, "while there is substantial support for the shift of high school start times, there is significant concern about extending the elementary school day by 30 minutes."

(To see updated information about Montgomery County Public Schools start times that occured after the end of the Task Force, click here ).