500,000 Students Head Back to School

About a half-million of students will return to  classes Wednesday at schools across the Southland, with various elected officials  planning to be on hand to welcome them back to campus.

School will begin at more than 740 Los Angeles Unified School District  campuses, prompting warnings from police to motorists be aware of children and  school zones.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, about 500,000 students  will be heading back to classes Wednesday. Children aged 5 to 9 are considered to  be at the greatest risk of traffic-related pedestrian injury or death,  according to the department, which noted that parents often overestimate their  children's pedestrian skills.

LAUSD Board of Education President Monica Garcia will greet students and  parents at several schools, including Central Los Angeles New High School #9, UCLA Community School and New Open World (NOW) Academy at the site of the  former Ambassador Hotel, Ann Street Elementary and Young Oak Kim Academy.

Board Vice President Yolie Flores Aguilar will tour William R. Anton  Elementary School and Early Education Center, while board member Nury Martinez  will tour Sun Valley High.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will visit students and parents at 99th  Street Elementary School and the Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center.

Eighty-nine of the district's more than 800 campuses were in session  Tuesday when President Barach Obama delivered his national "back-to-school"  message to students. There were no plans to rebroadcast the speech at the  hundreds of LAUSD campuses that begin their calendar year today.