Awakened by alarms or ringing nagging parents, thousands of students from Los Angeles Unified will pack their backpacks with new notebooks and pencils on Wednesday to start the new year 2011-12.
While young people may be nervous about pop quiz and make new friends, administrators and educators are worried about the outlook for the nation's second district.
Superintendent John Deasy was on the lookout for the Exchange and monthly reports on the use of this summer - and has neither improved the prognosis for the new school year.