Back to school

Nearly 700,000 students head back to Los Angeles Unified classrooms today, and tens of thousands of them will no longer suffer through chaotic, year-round schedules thanks to the district's massive ongoing construction program. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

The $19.2 billion effort, which would build more than 140 schools by 2012, will add six schools this fall, including two in the San Fernando Valley. The new schools have allowed the LAUSD to cut its year-round schools to just 114 this fall, down from 142 last year and 220 in 2002.

"It's better for the students," said Ken Lee, principal of San Fernando High School, which is coming off year-round scheduling for the first time since 1995. "Anything we did, we would have to do twice because one-third of the students and faculty were off."

Mayor sets goals
As students return to classrooms today for the start of a new school year in Los Angeles, major changes will greet 10 of the worst-performing campuses now under the authority of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Daily News.

During a visit Tuesday to one of the schools, Villaraigosa laid out ambitious goals for the coming year to reverse a failing system that has resulted in more dropouts than graduates.

"The whole nation is watching to see what we do here," Villaraigosa told a group of about 200 parents and teachers who reported to Markham Middle School on Tuesday to prepare for classes. "A lot of people are looking at the public school system and giving up on it. Not me. I believe in public education. I believe in these students."