Just over two weeks after Los Angeles Unified School District schools opened their doors for the 2024-2025 school year, students in Long Beach are also headed back to class.
The Long Beach Unified School District — the fourth largest in the state after LAUSD, San Diego Unified and Fresno Unified — welcomed back most pupils in the district on Tuesday, and officials were on hand at Stephens Middle School to greet some of the district’s 63,000 students bright and early.
“We are really setting the tone for students for the rest of the year,” said Stephens Middle School Principal Eric Cabacungan. “It’s not just about teaching content and academics but teaching social development and those types of skills as well.”
According to LBUSD Superintendent Dr. Jill Baker, since in-person classes resumed following the COVID-19 pandemic, administrators have “really rolled out the red carpet” on the first day of school.
“It’s something that we see district-wide now…with signs and school spirit and all of the ways that help students to feel comfortable and excited about coming back to school,” Dr. Baker said just after the first bell rang at Stephens Middle School. “We are excited to see our wellness centers in all of our secondary schools continue to elevate wellness and academic achievement [as well as] many continued interventions for students that have struggled since the pandemic.”
LBUSD – which consists of 85 campuses and a $1.2 billion operating budget – has campuses throughout Long Beach, Signal Hill, Lakewood and Avalon.
And while 63,000 students may seem like a lot, LAUSD has more than 540,000 students, good for second largest in the nation.
That pales in comparison to New York City Public Schools, which contains more than 986,000 students.
Motorists across Southern California are advised to be on the lookout for thousands of kids walking and biking to school as classes begin across the region.