Nolan Olivera, a senior at Cypress High School, said Thursday's decision should have come sooner.
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"I'm glad that they made the right decision finally, but it's too late," Olivera said Friday.
Olivera said spending his last year of school at home was rough.
"I did my best to move forward and strive at home," Olivera said. "But it obviously, it's a really big disappointment, especially when I see my stepbrother who is the same age as me -- he's a senior, he goes to Los Alamitos High School -- he goes to school and I sit in my room, on my computer."
That's changing in August, when the district plans to go in-person five days a week.
AUHSD's educational services assistant superintendent, Dr. Jaron Fried, made the announcement via a Youtube video posted Friday afternoon.
Riverside student accepted to 15 schools, including 5 in Ivy League
Riverside student accepted to 15 schools, including 5 in Ivy League
"Although we expect the vast majority of our students to return to our in-person model, we understand there may be unique circumstances where students are better-served with one of our independent study models," Fried said.
According to the information in the video, parents will be able to choose from two independent study options; some allow for in-person, online or hybrid models.
Olivera and this group of parents said they, too, should have been allowed a choice.
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"I'm not saying they needed to force all the kids to go to school, but it should've been an option," Olivera said.
"There's measures in place, safety precautions that they've set up in the classes that other schools have done," Robert McGee said.
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"If they don't return to school in the fall, my kids will be leaving this district and going to private school," Joanna Decleene said.
The AUHSD opened a survey Friday, asking parents to choose from the in-person or independent study options.
The survey closes May 21.
Families who do not indicate their preferred option in the survey will be automatically assigned to the in-person learning model as the default.