School bells will be tolling next week for three out of the four Heart of Oklahoma schools.

Wayne and Washington kick off the 2026-2027 school year with both districts starting classes Wednesday August 12. Lexington is right on their heels starting class work Thursday August 13.

Wayne added five minutes to the end of the day at each school building and tacked on three more days of instruction to meet new state guidelines.

Lexington Superintendent Chad Hall said his school combined an additional five minutes to the school day.

“We already had built in to accommodate this year’s recess,” Hall said. “We will monitor as to whether future years of recess policy will require anything additional.”

Washington Superintendent Chris Reynolds told The Register his district added two days of instruction and are adding five minutes at the start of the school day and adding five minutes at the end of the day.

Washington’s schools will begin at 8:20 a.m. and conclude at 3:20 p.m.

Purcell moved its starting date back a week due to a conflict last year with the State Tennis Tournament.

Last year, the tournament fell on the same day as high school commencement so a pair of Dragon Tennis Players had to make the decision to participate in graduation or compete on the court.

With that in mind Purcell’s Board of Education voted at its last meeting to move the start of the fall semester to August 20 moving the last day of class to May 21.

The mandatory recess legislation now has Purcell Elementary School starting at 7:45 a.m. and lasting until 3:05 p.m. The intermediate school will commence class work at 7:50 a.m. with the last bell ringing at 3:10 p.m. The junior high will begin classes at 8:15 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m.

The recess legislation does not affect the high school.