By Mark Mueller and David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK— More than 100 activists, ministers and Newark residents staged a forum tonight that became largely a protest against The Star-Ledger's coverage of community organizer and educator Fredrica Bey.

Bey is founder of the Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School in Newark, which has been under investigation by the state Department of Education for more than a year because of concerns about its lease and possible conflicts of interest among its leadership.

The meeting, complete with a phone call from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, featured chants of "Star-Liar!" and "No, you can’t!" in response to the newspaper’s reports that millions of dollars in state and federal aid the school receives to educate students have helped finance real estate holdings controlled by Bey.

David Jefferson, pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church, opened the meeting with a prayer, casting Bey and Women in Support of the Million Man March, a community group Bey founded, as inheritors of the legacies of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.

"These ladies stand in their shoes and on their shoulders," Jefferson said, adding that Bey and her group have "contributed in a phenomenal and tremendous way."

Earlier this week, state Department of Education investigators returned to Adelaide Sanford to interview faculty and administrators nearly three months after employees wrote to state officials asking them to intervene.

The chairman of the Assembly Education Committee and the president of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association also have called on Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to take action against the school and open a new inquiry into Bey, who already faces a civil lawsuit brought last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Parents of students who attend Adelaide Sanford have complained about a lack of textbooks, cramped classrooms and insufficient discipline for rowdy students.

During tonight’s meeting, Bey asked parents from the school to stand up. Fewer than 20 people did.

The Star-Ledger’s review also found school officials approved inflated rental payments to Women in Support of the Million Man March for space the school does not use.

Bey did not respond to multiple requests for comment before the newspaper published the article last Sunday.

As people walked into the community meeting at the James Street school, in the sanctuary of a former church, they were given a flier with a photo, phone number and e-mail of a Star-Ledger education reporter and the words, "Media Lynching."

Wearing a white pant suit and burnt-orange head scarf, Bey welcomed the crowd and immediately began attacking the newspaper.

Newark City Councilwoman Mildred Crump took the microphone, saying The Star-Ledger wants to "cut us off at the knees" and "We need to put out a clarion call for justice against this newspaper."

She led the crowd in a chant of, "No, you can’t!"

Bey thanked her supporters and cited e-mail messages and texts she said she had received from around the world.

"The outpouring of love — it’s like someone in our family had died," Bey said.

Pointing to a bouquet on the altar, she added, "Those flowers are from Ghana."

Bey accused The Star-Ledger of attacking her unfairly.

"Mass murderers have never gotten the ink from The Star-Ledger that we have gotten," she said.

Farrakhan was scheduled to appear via Skype, but the connection didn’t work. Instead, his photo was put on the screen as he spoke by cell phone on the eve of his 80th birthday.

He said he considered the moment "a final struggle for our liberation."

"I know when you read ugly things about yourself in the newspaper ... I know it’s disquieting, disheartening," Farrakhan said.

"But we are soldiers, and when we fight for a cause like this, there has to be opposition," he added.

"This is our institution — and we will let no one close it down," he said.

Adelaide Sanford has been on probation with the state Education Department since February 2012. Last year, to comply with the terms of the school’s probationary status, state education officials ordered Bey and her daughter, Amina, to cut ties with the school, according to education department records.

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Both women resigned from their leadership roles at the school last July — Fredrica Bey had been the school’s CEO and her daughter the school board president — yet both women played key roles in organizing tonight’s community meeting.

Amina Bey took to her public Facebook page to defend the school.

In a message posted to her Facebook page on Wednesday, Amina Bey describes herself as a "proud, founding member" of WISOMMM, which she calls Adelaide Sanford’s "parent organization."

"We have a warrior spirit that is prepared for battle," Amina Bey wrote. "I will no longer suffer fools gladly or silently — whether they be so-called friends, relatives, or strangers. Trust me, you are not coming for us — WE ARE COMING FOR YOU!"

She goes on to warn her "backstabbing enemy agent provocateurs" that "WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"

Star-Ledger staff writer Mike Frassinelli contributed to this report

RELATED COVERAGE

• Special report: Born in hope, Newark charter school now embroiled in controversy

• State Department of Education investigators visit Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School