04:15 PM CDT on Monday, August 15, 2005

From 11 News Staff Reports

Superintendent Abe Saavedra spent the day visiting schools.

He talked with students, parents and teachers on this first day of classes. One of the locations was the new Empowerment Institute, a college-prep high school where students can gain up to 18 hours of credit that can be transferred to most colleges.

Dr. Saavedra says it's been an electrifying day.

"Everyone's excited the first day," says Saavedra. "Parents are excited to get their kids off to school. Kids are excited to be there. Teachers are excited. Hell, even the superintendent is excited."

Dr. Saavedra made the rounds to five schools. HISD is the largest public school system in Texas. It's the seventh largest in the United States.

More than 208,000 students were enrolled during the last school year. The district is also one of the largest employers in Houston with around 30,000 full- and part-time employees.

That includes more than 12,500 teachers.