Updated Feb. 2: Revised to reflect fliers found on campus Friday.

As Plano ISD prepares to address cyberbullying in its campus policies, several Plano East Senior High students are being investigated for threatening online remarks about a classmate's sexual orientation.

In a Snapchat exchange that was photographed and posted on Twitter, one student asked a group about a fellow student: "Can someone beat the gay out of him? Can we pull some hate crimes."

One student responded: "let's do it," and another replied with a raised-hand emoji.

The district's policy guide has not been updated to reflect the requirements of Texas' new cyberbullying law, but district spokeswoman Lesley Range-Stanton said a first reading of changes to the policy will be presented at the school board meeting Tuesday.

She said the district has been following the requirements of the cyberbullying law, which went into effect in 2017.

School districts must notify the parents of a bullying victim within three business days of an incident. A bully's parents must be notified in a "reasonable amount of time."

Range-Stanton said the parents of the students involved in this week's case have been notified.

Since the derogatory remarks came to light, hundreds of students have signed a petition urging school administrators to take disciplinary action against the people who were involved.

On Friday, fliers were found at the school that used a slur to say that gays "will not have the last word, God Bless America," KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.

Screengrab of a tweeted photo of a Snapchat exchange in which Plano East Senior High School students made derogatory comments about a student's sexual orientation. The students' names have been redacted. (Twitter)

Range-Stanton said that officials can't comment on disciplinary measures imposed on individual students but that the actions in this case will follow the district's code of conduct.

Punishments for bullying depend on severity, according to the code of conduct, but they can include detention, suspension, placement in an alternative education program or expulsion.

Two of the students involved in the Snapchat exchange issued apologies on their Twitter accounts. The student who made the "beat the gay out of him" comment said he was sorry to "anyone and everyone who felt personally attacked or threatened by my statements." The other student who apologized said the comments had been a joke.

The petition, initiated by Plano East graduate Dhruv Iyengar, urges adminstrators to expel the students who made the comments “to set an example that threats against one’s life will not be tolerated, no matter whether it was intended as a joke or not.”

“I wanted to show that there is more love than hate,” said Iyengar, who now studies at Ithaca College in New York.

Plano ISD’s Student and Parent Policy Guide prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin or disability.

Iyengar said he hopes the school district will add sexual orientation to the list.

Other Collin County districts have nondiscrimination policies similar to Plano's, but some districts in the area, including Dallas and Fort Worth, cover sexual orientation.

The Plano East Senior High student council denounced the Snapchat exchange, saying on Twitter that the administration and student body “cannot and will not tolerate this sort of treatment to other peers.”

“We will ensure punishment is served,” the student council's statement said.

Plano East prides itself on being an extremely diverse and accepting school with students from all walks of life. The administration and student body cannot and will not tolerate this sort of treatment to other peers. We will ensure punishment is served. — PESH Stuco (@PESH_Stuco18) February 1, 2018

Student council vice president Brian Wright, an 18-year-old senior, said administrators spent Wednesday night investigating the students involved.

In response to questions, he said in a text message that teachers received an email from the administration during first period Thursday instructing them to share information about the situation with students.

Student leaders and administrators were working together to plan an event for Friday that will “highlight the positivity, tolerance and acceptance we promote as a student body and administration,” Wright said.

Staff writer Tom Steele contributed to this report.