Back-to-school preparations for the academic year that began Thursday in Los Angeles were like no other — and more ominous.

One teacher training explained how to recognize various types of federal officers who handle immigration arrests or "kidnappings," as participants were told — and also how to distinguish between these officers and bounty hunters wearing cop gear purchased on Amazon.

"All of the agencies are masked, and all of them refuse to identify themselves, right?" said the presenter at the headquarters of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, which hosted the training. "That's what we've experienced on the ground."

The 2025 school year opened Thursday morning with many of the usual rituals: Balloons at the schoolhouse entrance, crying 5-year-olds with nearly crying parents and teenagers who are nearly too cool for school but thrilled to see friends and even eager to meet their teachers.

"My children are interested and excited to start school and get the usual assortment of school supplies and new shoes," said Judi Bike. But their "favorite new school shopping is backpack shopping" for a child from a low-income family, "usually through the Baby2Baby student program," she said.

In the background, however, is deep concern about whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will use school sites to target immigrants without legal status as they walk with children on the way to or from campus. Federal authorities have said no place is off limits as they maneuver to reach President Trump's goal of 1 million deportations per year.

Read more: Los Angeles public schools to open with unprecedented protections for immigrant children

These fears were heightened Monday when federal agents reportedly drew their guns on and handcuffed a 15-year-old boy with disabilities outside Arleta High School in a case of mistaken identity. Federal officials said they were looking to apprehend a suspected MS-13 gang member and instead nabbed the person's cousin. Federal authorities said they apprehended the actual suspect later in the day.

Campus patrols

The presence of immigration agents so near a school — and the detention of a student — was on the minds Thursday morning of volunteers organized to patrol streets near schools.

At Maya Angelou Community High School in South Park, as students filed in lugging full backpacks, volunteers circled the perimeter of campus in their own cars, affixed with a red and black sticker that read: “Protecting Communities From Ice and Police Terror.”

History teacher Ron Gochez wore a red shirt with the words “All Power to the Teachers,” and surveilled the sidewalk and streets.

He would soon need to teach — but his attention before and after school would be on making sure students were secure, Gochez said.

“People are already patrolling in their cars. Teachers are gonna be showing up and patrolling on foot around the school,” Gochez said. “For us at the high school, it means being vigilant… If we were to see anything, we’d contact not just our school, but other schools in our immediate neighborhood.”

Other educators at Maya Angelou also have signed on to the effort.

History teacher Ricardo López said he felt obligated to take on patrol shifts.

“This is my first day… I’ll do it for the students,” Lopez said. “We gotta find a way to resist, to actually make change.”

Fifteen other faculty members posted themselves in front of the school holding signs signaling support and encouragement: “Everyone is Welcome Here" and “This is a Safe Space for Immigrants.”

Students also were welcomed in via a red carpet at the entrance.

The inviting atmosphere was working for Bonnie and Haley, two juniors.

“I feel pretty safe,” Bonnie said. “We’re not super worried.”

Students joined up with friends to make up for missed time during the summer. Wearing carefully selected first-day outfits, they hugged in reunion and coordinated meet-ups after school while the safety patrol kept watch.

Tiers of school protection

Thursday's first day of school features three tiers of protection for students and their immigrant families.

L.A. school district-organized efforts have established a watch zone around at least 100 schools thought to be at highest risk because of their large Latino populations. These include schools where older Latino students walk to school without their parents.

The teachers union has organized a second tier of faculty observers — ideally at least five to seven per school — to watch for immigration enforcement activity and alert a network of participants if they find it. The teachers are to observe and report only, said Gochez.

The third tier involves groups such as Unión del Barrio, that are prepared to gather community members at a scene and provide hands-on support, or, if necessary, obstruct the efforts of immigration agents, even if they risk arrest by doing so, said Gochez, who is a Unión del Barrio leader.

Volunteers patrolled outside schools of all grade levels.

At 93rd Street Elementary School, Ingrid Villeda, the community school coordinator, and colleague Olga Calacuayo, the school’s Title I Coordinator, began conducting safety checks well before the morning school bell.

At 6:45 a.m., the pair patrolled several blocks around the school’s perimeter for signs of immigration agents. They noticed two empty cars that looked suspicious to them and reported that to Unión del Barrio’s tip line.

Villeda said she plans to do the same route each morning before school.

About 7:35 a.m. school administrators — clad in bright orange vests and carrying matching orange "know-your-rights" fliers — greeted the volunteers standing outside the school gates.

The volunteers then busied themselves escorting students and their parents to campus within about a three-block radius of the school.

Among the volunteers escorting students and parents was Diana Holbert, a former children’s pastor at Westwood United Methodist Church.

As Holbert made dozens of trips across South San Pedro Street and back, she said she could sense the fear in the body language of parents and children, who kept their pace fast and their eyes forward.

When Holbert heard about the volunteer opportunity, she immediately joined the effort. She said she felt strongly that these children need to be protected — even if that meant putting herself at risk of arrest.

She shrugged, “I’m 78 years old. If it happens it happens.”

Educators are worried

Educators throughout the Los Angeles region are expressing worries about their students and their immigrant families.

"Imagine ... leaving your home in the morning and not knowing if your parents or your tío or tía is going to be there when you get back, or your grandparents," said Pomona Unified School District Supt. Darren Knowles. "Kids have enough to worry about as it is. I remember walking to school as a kid, and I worried about ... the bully. I worried about the dog in the neighbor's yard and ... other fears that my mind would create."

Pomona's schools opened Tuesday, and the attendance rate was a little lower than last year's first day, Knowles said at a Wednesday event held with other local leaders to call attention to the importance of good attendance.

Read more: Agents detain student at gunpoint near school; safe zones to be expanded around LAUSD campuses

Getting to school, the educators and officials noted, leads to better learning, better health and even better life success. But they didn't suggest that arriving on campus — and focusing on learning — would be easy for many worried families.

"It's very difficult to teach children when they're afraid," said Debra Duardo, superintendent of the L.A. County Office of Education. While schools continue to be relative safe havens, educators have been forced to devise protocols about what do to when immigration agents are near a school or attempting to enter campus.

"This is something unprecedented," Duardo said. "The fear is real, and it is having a direct impact on student attendance and student enrollment."

It remains to be seen if some families will opt out of in-person school. Online enrollment rose in the spring semester for L.A. Unified once the Trump administration entered office. Early this week, it was running about 7% higher than last year despite overall lower enrollment, said L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho.

Mistaken identity outside Arleta High

In the Monday incident outside Arleta High, family members persuaded officers that the boy was not the person they were looking for and the officers released him. A Department of Homeland security statement Wednesday praised the family for cooperating.

"The mother of the 15-year-old, who is cousins with the alleged MS-13 gang member, was on the scene and worked with Border Patrol," the statement said. "The mother informed Border Patrol that they are often confused for each other. She helped give Border Patrol the information to help apprehend him later in the day."

"Once again, our agents keeping streets and the American tax-payer safe from criminals and we will keep doing so until the mission is accomplished," said U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino in a social media post.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.