School buses
© REUTERS/Stephen LamSchool buses are seen in San Francisco, California, U.S. April 7, 2020.
Parents in Los Angeles are suing the local teachers union and school district over continued remote learning due to the coronavirus, which they say has harmed children socially, mentally, and emotionally.

"UTLA has been holding the children of Los Angeles hostage as the price of advancing a political agenda," civil rights attorney with the Freedom Foundation, Timothy Snowball, wrote in an announcement.

The four families, represented by the Freedom Foundation pro bono, filed the suit on Tuesday and named the Los Angeles Unified School District, United Teachers Los Angeles union, and UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz as defendants.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic, UTLA has been more interested in scoring political points it couldn't achieve without holding Los Angeles children and parents hostage. While state and local officials try desperately to come up with a way to satisfy UTLA and other teacher union demands, it is the children of Los Angeles that continue to suffer," Snowball wrote.

One of the plaintiff's children has autism and is unable to complete schoolwork due to remote learning, the lawsuit says. While two of the other plaintiffs' children had "emotional outbursts" because of Zoom classes, forcing the parents to enroll their children in private schools.

"We do not have a statement at this time," a Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson told the Washington Examiner when asked about the lawsuit.

Schools have been closed since March 13 last year, and a tentative agreement was reached to reopen schools in mid-April.

The UTLA did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment on the matter.