Back to school in Los Angeles: A look at how families are being supported with school supplies and new safety measures on the streets

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Jill Smith is a head cashier at Food 4 Less, a company she has worked at for about 14 years. On Friday, Smith was the one doing the shopping.

“I have a four-year-old granddaughter, so I’m buying her a backpack,” Smith said, adding that she would also pick one up for a co-worker who was at work.

The shopping experience was part of a back-to-school event hosted by UFCW 770, a union that represents retail, packaging and grocery workers, among others. The union said it wanted to help its members calm down.

“Our goal is to at least provide the kids with a backpack, crayons, glue and things they can quickly check off,” said Monica Valdovinos of UFCW 770 and UFCW 770 Women’s Network.

The union said it was distributing free school supplies at several locations in California to support 400 students and their families.

“We did not expect so many donations, not only in terms of money but also of school supplies, and not only from us but also from union members who see their fellow union members struggling to make ends meet,” Valdovinos said.

When students in the Los Angeles Unified School District return to school on Monday, many will notice new road safety projects. The Department of Transportation has installed hundreds of speed bumps where speeding is a known problem.

They have also made improvements to tighten intersections and encourage drivers to slow down. Another measure to reduce speeding is new slow-moving zones at schools with reduced speed limits of 24 km/h.

“Over the past few years, Los Angeles Unified students and families have been victims of senseless traffic accidents while traveling to and from school,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in a statement. “As we welcome our students, staff and families back for the 2024-25 school year, our School Committee members and I are grateful for the steps Mayor Bass and the City Council have taken to urgently address these safety issues.”

The agency also said that by accelerating the hiring of school crossing guards, it is also continuing the largest deployment of school crossing guards in over a decade.