Lewisville ISD will swap the start times for high school and middle school and extend the school day by 10 minutes for all grade levels starting with the 2026-27 school year, following approval at a Jan. 12 board meeting. The board approved the time change by a 5-2 vote, with trustees Allison Lassahn and Sheila Taylor opposed, and the 10-minute extension unanimously.

The impact

In the 2025-26 school year, high school classes start before middle school. For 2026-27, middle school classes will start before high school. A Jan. 6 report from Superintendent Lori Rapp states:
  • All elementary schools will start class at 7:40 a.m. and end at 3:05 p.m.
  • Middle school will start at 8:15 a.m. and end at 3:40 p.m.
  • High school will start at 8:50 a.m. and end at 4:15 p.m.
Class for every grade level will start five minutes earlier and end five minutes later than the current school year, making the school day 10 minutes longer. District officials lengthened the school day to bank additional minutes for bad weather days and to give staff more time for work and professional development and planning.

What they're saying

Trustees Lassahn and Taylor voted against swapping the middle and high school start times, citing concerns from the community over some high school students not being able to work their part-time jobs with the new school schedule and concerns over the schedule change impacting extracurricular activities like marching band.


"I began receiving feedback from constituents on this issue. All of them were against it," Lassahn said. "Some of reasons included sharing building space across programs, such as fine arts and athletics, students not being able to get to jobs after school, concern about high school students who take care of younger siblings after school, just to name a few."

Board Vice President Katherine Sells voted in favor of the time swap out of concern for unattended middle school students that arrive at school over an hour before school starts.

“As early as 7:20 a.m. ... I saw a child being dropped off at 7:20 [a.m.] for an 8:55 [a.m.] start,” Sells said.

Looking ahead


The new start times and extended school day will take effect for the 2026-27 school year, which begins Aug. 12.