LOS ANGELES — It has been a back and forth argument for months — when will schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District re-open? 

A group of parents are so frustrated, they’re calling for Superintendent Austin Beutner to resign, but Beutner said he’s just adhering to regulations from the state and getting staff vaccinated is a critical component.

On his list of local officials to call, Los Angeles parent Ross Novie’s first name is Beutner. The founder of parent group L.A. School Uprising is calling for the head of the L.A. Unified School District to step down.

“I just want to make sure our parental frustration that school being closed is logged,” Ross said to a staff member on the phone.

Ross was unable to speak to the superintendent directly and was sent in circles by staff who gave him other numbers to call, none of which led to Beutner.

"We have a bunch of bureaucratic politicians who are not ready to stand up and do the right thing and that’s why we got to get rid of them and we should. We do in wartime and this is wartime against this pandemic," Novie said. "So why do we have these people who are ineffective? If he was the coach of the Chargers and he went 2 and 14, he’d be gone by now.”

L.A. School Uprising is an organization with more than 3,000 parents calling for a safe return to in-person learning. More than 200 parents within the group are also health care professionals who said these closures are having devastating impacts on their children’s mental health.

It is one side of two distinct viewpoints. One viewpoint comes from the L.A. Teachers Union, which has said the risk of community transmission is still too high for students to return. The other viewpoint is from parents like Ross Novie who, after months of what he calls inaction, is now reaching out to Beutner and other local, state, and federal officials to say they need to leave their post if they cannot handle big decisions.

"It’s like a slow motion car crash and we’re all watching and hoping, like surely, they’re going to go back now, this can’t continue. And it’s been that “can’t continue” mindset for months," Novie said. "Then at a certain point now — will we ever go back? I mean there’s no real argument to keep things shut scientifically anymore, so are we ever going to go back?”

Ross points to reports from the CDC and a statement from 1,500 pediatricians calling for schools in Los Angeles to immediately reopen with proper protocols. Los Angeles City Councilmember Joe Buscaino referenced both of those as well when he filed a lawsuit against the district to force them to reopen. 

Both L.A. City Attorney and Beutner, who called it a grandstanding political stunt, rejected the suit. Beutner continues to stand by the state standards that indicates schools can only re-open when the new daily COVID-19 cases are below 25 per 100,000 people.

"I’ll remind you, the Los Angeles area has yet to meet state standards for schools to reopen since the first case of COVID was reported," Beutner said during his weekly address Monday.

At that weekly address, Beutner said the CDC's most recent guidelines provide much needed clarity on how to move forward, but he blamed California officials for being unclear on what should happen when the COVID-19 standard is met.

Ross said he does not care what it takes. He just needs them to listen to the health experts and figure it out.

“I mean the evidence has always been there, but now doctors are stepping up and saying we’re losing our minds, we’re hurting the kids, we have to change," Novie said.

To return or not to return? It is a continuous push and pull within the second largest school district in the nation.