LAUSD students head back to school

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- School started on Tuesday for hundreds of thousands of students in Los Angeles County.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest school district in the country with more than 650,000 students.

Superintendent John Deasy told Eyewitness News his top priority is making sure kids get the best public education possible and that they graduate.

"No. 1 priority today is so that students realize that we're dead serious about them graduating 100 percent from Day 1," said Deasy. "We want to welcome students back. Our budget has allowed us to hire thousands of new employees, teachers. We've reduced class sizes in middle schools and high schools."

Deasy wanted to remind parents that kids need to have their Tdap immunization paperwork done before being allowed in class.

School officials are also stressing the importance of safety. They want to make sure students are aware of their surroundings.

"We need to have the public understand they need to pay attention to the road in and around the school areas. Kids are going to be walking to school, kids are going to be biking to school," said Los Angeles School Police Department Chief Steven Zimmerman. "Please pay attention. Please give yourself extra time to get to school."