FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP — More than 100 community members came to the Franklin Township Board of Education Thursday, many with one goal in mind: To find out what the school district was doing about a so-called "White Girls Club" and accusations of racism around it.

Last week, the Home News Tribune printed an article indicating a group of girls at Franklin High School — dubbed the "White Girls Club" — were posting "racially insensitive comments and photos" on social media sites, and were possibly connected to a male student who was already suspended for allegedly posting racist pictures online.

A high school student sent the Home News Tribune a series of screen shots of Tweets by members of the club each posing with three fingers creating a "W" — apparently to symbolize "white," with the hashtag "#wgc," MyCentralJersey.com, the online platform of the Home News Tribune and Courier News, reported.

A girl also allegedly retweeted a tweet sent out by a boy that said "the hallways in the high school," and featured a photo of a group of monkeys or chimpanzees. He also posted a photo on Twitter of the Confederate flag hanging on a wall near bleachers of a gym with the Twitter message "south will rise again," the report said.

While board president Julia M. Presley previously told NJ.com that it has not yet been proven that the girls posted anything racist or were even involved with the boy already suspended, she would not reveal any details surrounding the investigation.

And Thursday night's meeting didn't shed any new light on the investigation, either. But it did make one thing clear: parents are mad.

Bruce Morgan, president of the New Brunswick branch of the NAACP, said he thought the board was "slow to react" to the allegations made against the girls.

"This hit the paper last Friday, but apparently this happened some time in the fall. We think it's a shame that the seriousness of the situation wasn't recognized then. It's affecting the community at large, not just the school community."

Elizabeth Akapinti, a Franklin Township mother, said she’s concerned about the allegations made against the girls at the high school. “I’m not exactly sure as a mom what can be done about the madness that’s going on at the high school, but I think this needs to start in our churches and home. It’s terrible and horrible. What was said. … It's just sad.”

Superintendent Edward Q. Seto read a prepared statement before the meeting addressing the White Girls Club issue, indicating the district rejects all forms of racism.

"In addressing the issues of the articles regarding a group at Franklin High School, the board of education has directed me to continue to investigate," he said.

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"We have already disciplined one student."

Presley also read a statement that said the board and the administration "must be sensitive of opposing views and will not publicly discuss the status of investigations or discliplinary actions."

She also said that members of the board and the safety security committee went out with teams and met with every English class last week from grades nine to 12 to speak with students in small group settings to discuss how Franklin High School was being portrayed in the media, and to come up with solutions.

"Some of the strategies that came out of the meetings will help incidents in the future, and might include sensitivity training, counseling both individual and group, discussions of the pros and cons of the use of social media networks, and the explanations of the opportunities to work collaboratively together to better understand the diverse cultural makeup of our school," Presley said.

But Morgan said he thought the school community did not come together as a whole to address the issue, as many students said they received conflicting messages depending on the meeting they attended.

And many who spoke Thursday demanded more action from the board.

"What is the plan to deescalate the situation?" asked Linda Powell, a Franklin resident. "This is really pulling Franklin apart in some really horrible ways. I hope members of the board take this to heart."

Cynthia Burwell, a Somerset resident, said she understood there was an investigation, but didn't understand "the process of going through a lengthy investigation."

"There's no denying it happened and that the comments were posted," she said. "There's much more than what was printed in the newspaper. We need to stand up and do the right thing. We need to stop blaming The Star-Ledger and the Home News Tribune and Courier for making our schools look bad and take responsibility. How do we teach them going forward that this is inappropriate behavior?"

Burwell said the board needed to do a better job communicating with the community. "Our children deserve better, and deserve for you to take your job seriously."

A. Dowling, a parent of a Franklin High School student, said she just hopes there's a plan of action.



"It's not over by any means," she said.

One Franklin High School student spoke about the climate at the high school, saying that some black people have stopped talking to white people altogether because they assume the white students are part of the White Girls Club. The board asked the girl not to announce her name.

"This is probably one of the most hurtful things I have ever experienced in my life," she said. "I have been friends with these girls, and it makes me feel as if I've done something personally wrong as a black woman. I also see that these girls are not remorseful."

The student also said she feared the situation could get worse.

"The students at Franklin High School are angry. I hear the threats that these girls are getting, and the more people continue to not talk about it and sweep things under the rug, (the worse it's getting)," she said.