School Bell Times — Indian River County, Florida

For 2026-27 the district set three bells: 7:20 a.m. to 2:07 p.m. at high schools such as Sebastian River High, 8:10 a.m. to 2:51 p.m. at middle and K-8 schools, and 9:00 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. at elementary schools.

The School Board set those three tiers unanimously on February 23, 2026, according to the district announcement posted two days later (School District of Indian River County). The same notice states that Wabasso School and IR PREP will continue to operate on independent schedules, so those two campuses sit outside the three tiers.

Sources for the table: the board notice for the regular tiers and page 13 of the 2026-2027 Parent Guide for the modified-day times and the two specialty schools (SDIRC Parent Guide, School Schedules). The spread between the earliest bell at Sebastian River High and the latest dismissal at Sebastian Elementary is 8 hours and 20 minutes, from the first high school bell to the last elementary dismissal.

The district, headquartered at 6500 57th Street in Vero Beach, says the schedule came out of two phases of stakeholder feedback, transportation modeling and operational analysis. Family surveys returned 261 very supportive and 171 supportive responses, and staff surveys 121 very supportive and 72 supportive (district notice, February 25, 2026). The reasons the notice lists are consistency across grade levels, dismissal times that leave room for extracurricular activities and student jobs, and more efficient transportation.

Each school posts its own hours on its home page banner, and every banner checked in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach on October 12, 2026 matched the board's tier for that school's grade span.

On the north county side, Sebastian River High lists 7:20 am-2:07 pm for grades 9-12 with the front office at 772-564-4170 (Sebastian River High School). Sebastian River Middle, at 9400 CR 512, lists 8:10 am-2:51 pm for grades 6-8 and 772-564-5111 (Sebastian River Middle School). Sebastian Elementary on Sebastian Boulevard lists 9:00 am-3:40 pm for PreK-5 and 772-978-8190 (Sebastian Elementary School of the Arts), and Treasure Coast Elementary lists the same 9:00 to 3:40 day for K-5 (Treasure Coast Elementary School).

The schools that are growing into K-8 campuses take the middle-school bell, not the elementary one. Pelican Island Classical Magnet in Sebastian posts 8:10 am-2:51 pm for grades PK-7 (Pelican Island Classical Magnet School), and Fellsmere Academy posts 8:10 am to 2:51 pm for PreK-7 (Fellsmere Academy). The Parent Guide lists both, along with Osceola Magnet in Vero Beach, as seventh-grade campuses that become K-8 by 2027-2028 (Parent Guide, School Contact Information). Rosewood Magnet School in Vero Beach, already K-8, shows the same 8:10 start (Rosewood Magnet School). For a younger child at Pelican Island Classical or Fellsmere Academy, that means a morning start 50 minutes earlier than at Sebastian Elementary.

Modified instructional days in 2026-27 fall on December 17 and 18, 2026 and May 26, 27 and 28, 2027, with Sebastian River High releasing at 12:20 p.m. and county elementary schools at 1:50 p.m.

The dates come from page 2 of the 2026-2027 Instructional Calendar shared by every school from Fellsmere to Vero Beach, which marks Thursday, December 17 and Friday, December 18, 2026 as modified instructional days, the second of them also the end of the second grading quarter, and closes the year with modified days on Wednesday, May 26 through Friday, May 28, 2027, the last day of school for students (2026-2027 Instructional Calendar).

Start times do not change on a modified day; only dismissal moves. Page 13 of the Parent Guide gives 9:00 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. for elementary schools, 8:10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for middle and K-8 schools and 7:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. for high schools (Parent Guide, School Schedules). On those five days a Sebastian River Middle student is released 1 hour and 51 minutes earlier than usual, and a Treasure Coast Elementary student 1 hour and 50 minutes earlier, using the regular and modified times in the same guide.

The guide gives no modified-day time for IR Prep or Wabasso School, which keep their own schedules under the February 2026 board decision. Families at the Wabasso School campus on U.S. 1 confirm early-release arrangements with that school at 772-978-8000, the number on its home page (Wabasso School).

Wabasso School, an exceptional student education center on U.S. 1, runs 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., and IR Prep runs 9:00 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., because the board left both on independent schedules.

Wabasso School describes itself as an ESE center school serving grades K-12 students with varying exceptionalities through age 22, at 8895 U.S. Highway 1 with a Sebastian mailing address (Wabasso School). Its day starts 20 minutes after the middle-school tier and ends 6 minutes earlier than Sebastian River Middle, so it overlaps the middle-school tier without matching it.

IR Prep keeps an elementary-length day, 9:00 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., according to the specialty-school list on page 13 of the Parent Guide (2026-2027 Parent Guide). The guide does not list a separate modified-day dismissal for either specialty school, which is why neither appears in the early-release rows of the tier table above.

The district Extended Day Program opens at 7:00 a.m. on regular school days and runs after dismissal until 6:00 p.m. at elementary and K-8 sites such as Sebastian Elementary, Treasure Coast Elementary and Pelican Island Classical Magnet.

Page 45 of the Parent Guide sets the morning program at 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for kindergarten through 5th grade, and 7:00 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. at K-8 schools, which matches the earlier 8:10 bell at a campus like Fellsmere Academy (Parent Guide, Extended Day Program). The afternoon program starts at 3:40 p.m. at elementary schools and 2:51 p.m. at K-8 schools.

Online registration is only for children new to Extended Day, incoming kindergartners or transfers from another school, and the program office answers at 772-564-4999, per the same guide. The registration list on that page names Sebastian Elementary, Treasure Coast Elementary, Pelican Island Classical Magnet, Fellsmere Elementary and the Vero Beach elementary sites.

Bus riders work from the bell, too. Page 83 of the Parent Guide tells families to arrive at least 10 minutes before the scheduled bus arrival, and the district Department of Transportation answers at (772) 978-8801 (Parent Guide, Transportation). At 7:20 a.m., Sebastian River High and the other high schools hold the earliest bell in the district schedule.

At every district school from Fellsmere to Vero Beach, four or more tardies in a nine-week grading period bring a teacher notice, and pickups in the last 30 minutes of the day are not allowed except in an emergency.

For a Sebastian River Middle or Vero Beach High student, the Parent Guide defines tardiness as arriving after the designated time or after the tardy signal has sounded, and states that when it reaches four or more times per nine-week grading period, classroom teachers notify the parent or guardian and the MTSS Individual Problem-Solving Team begins progressive interventions (Parent Guide, Attendance).

Early pickup has its own limit. Under the same page, dismissal within the final 30 minutes of the school day is prohibited unless the principal determines that it is an emergency. With the 2026-27 bells, that window opens at 1:37 p.m. at Sebastian River High, 2:21 p.m. at Sebastian River Middle and Pelican Island Classical, and 3:10 p.m. at Sebastian Elementary, each figure computed by subtracting 30 minutes from the posted dismissal time.

The guide also records a full absence when a student misses 50 percent of a school day, which on the 6 hour 40 minute elementary day at Treasure Coast Elementary or Sebastian Elementary is 3 hours and 20 minutes. Last verified: October 12, 2026, against the district bell-time announcement of February 25, 2026, pages 13 to 15, 45, 57 and 83 of the 2026-2027 Parent Guide, page 2 of the 2026-2027 Instructional Calendar and the home pages of Sebastian River High, Pelican Island Classical Magnet and Fellsmere Academy.