LOS ANGELES — Students in the Los Angeles Unified School District have been learning from home for nine months now. At this point, many parents say enough is enough.

"I go to school in Los Angeles," said teenage student Hudson Novie. "And I hate distance learning because I'm a freshman in high school and I'm missing out on a year I was so excited for."

Hudson is telling his story for his father Ross' campaign titled L.A. School Uprising. At the beginning of 2020, Hudson was really looking forward to a fresh start. Then, COVID-19 hit and everything went virtual. Now, Hudson said he’s in class all morning, staring at a screen full of people he doesn’t know.

“I don’t really have that many friends because I just went into high school in my classes, and it’s hard to make new friends," he said.

Ross Novie is concerned about the mental health of his kids, and he’s not alone. A group of more than 1,800 parents in LAUSD have been calling for the school board to at least decide on a plan for in-person learning.

Ross noted that they're aware the numbers are spiking right now, but that’s no excuse to continue delaying plans for students’ return in the new year.

"We have to plan ahead," he said. "I know right now [there are] high cases. But it ebbs and flows. So we have to prepared that once it ebbs, we’re ready to move into action. We can’t just be running around with our hair on fire the whole time. And last time when the cases were down in the fall, what’d we do? Nothing."

He has launched the L.A. School Uprising campaign to get the attention of people who don’t realize the many implications of keeping students at home, gathering testimonies directly from students regarding the negative impacts of distance learning.

Ross says the videos will be posted online and sent directly to the governor, mayor, superintendent, and other officials.

"There’s a reason why Dr. Fauci, why the CDC, why the World Health Organization, why everyone emphasizes we have to go back," said Ross. "The LA Times just had an article talking about this — how the risks of spreading at the campuses have proven to be minimum. But what we do know is the risks of not having kids in school are devastating."

Ross also launched a petition that already has more than 500 signatures, calling for the district to safely reopen in-person classes to at least a portion of the students who want to return on January 19. He figures that gives them ample time to come up with a safe plan.

His 16-year-old daughter Ella explained that it can’t come soon enough. In addition to the isolation she feels, Ella's grades are slipping in the most important year of high school.

“I don’t know any of my teachers, so they’re not gonna be able to write a recommendation for me to go to college, which makes my application that much worse," she said. "And this is such an important year that is just kind of ruined by this whole thing."

An important year Hudson says he hopes isn’t completely ruined for him either.

“I really don’t want my whole freshman year to be taken away from me."