Sometimes, a little bit of time can make a big difference. At Des Moines Public Schools, that is the case for our school buses as we transport thousands of students to and from school each day. A delay of a few minutes in the morning can grow as the school day goes on, causing students to miss class time and interfering with after school activities.

To help address this challenge, DMPS is making a small change to bell times for the 2024-25 school year for elementary and high schools:

• Elementary school students will begin and end the day 5 minutes earlier. Elementary schools will start at 7:40 AM and dismiss at 2:35 PM.
• High school students will begin and end the day 10 minutes earlier. High schools will start at 8:15 AM and dismiss at 3:15 PM.

The above changes will go into effect when the new school year gets underway in August. There are no changes to the schedule for middle school or preschool.

While this is a small change to our bell times, some of the benefits will include:

• More on-time arrivals for students riding the bus at the start of each school day;
• An end to “round robin” bus routes for elementary schools, meaning more K-5 students will be on time to begin the school day;
• A greater ability for our DMPS transportation team to support after school activities, a cost savings for the school district;
• More on-time arrivals for middle school students who take classes at Central Academy.

Even though this change is only a matter of minutes for elementary and high schools, we wanted to make sure you were aware of this well in advance of the start of the new school year and some of the benefits this means for our transportation services at Des Moines Public Schools.