GENEVA, Ohio (WJW) — The Ohio NAACP launched an investigation into civil rights issues at Geneva Area City Schools following complaints issued about threats made towards Black students including a school shooting where they would be specifically targeted.

“My daughter actually physically tried to scrub her own skin off because she no longer wanted to be brown,” said parent Nichole Persing. ” … There was a threat made — I believe in January — that they were going to shoot up all the N-words in the school.”

Liz Penna, president of the Ashtabula NAACP, said multiple parents have come forward with similar concerns. Penna said the school board was informed last week of their open investigation into the district and what it views as violations of district policy.

“A student had threatened to bring a gun into the school and shoot all the, for a better word, Afro-American students; and the school did not take that seriously,” said Penna.

Persing said her 14-year-old daughter, who is biracial, is often the target of racist verbal and physical harassment and bullying, resulting in altercations with disproportionate discipline levied against her daughter.

Persing said the experience is directly impacting the quality of her child’s education, due to missed days at school because of threats.

“There’s always a possibility of legal action,” said Penna. “They have to be accountable for what they do and they don’t do. Every child is entitled to a safe place to have a decent education and right now, I don’t see what these kids in Geneva or other areas are getting that, especially when they’re forced to stay home because they’re afraid to go to school.”

Geneva Area City Schools Superintendent Terri Hrina-Treharn said, “The district is conducting our own internal investigation as we take any and all racial allegations seriously.”

Persing said her daughter is often called racial slurs and subjected to other racist comments including, the N-word, and told she was a slave and to “go back to the fields to pick cotton.” She said her daughter was even told by a classmate they are part of the Ku Klux Klan.

“Having their hair made fun of; the texture of their hair; the hair being touched, pulled; being pushed in the hallways,” said Persing about the experience of several of her children. “If you can think of it, it’s probably at some point or another [happened] to one of them.”

One possible remedy, Penna said, is additional diversity training for staff, with continued discussions for students and parents, along with penalties for violating policy.

“I just really wish that they could go to school and complete a school day like every other student that isn’t of color and get the same education that they do,” said Persing.

According to Hrina-Treharn, the district is 90% white, 4.5% multiracial, 4.5% Hispanic, 0.58% Black, 0.19% Asian and 0.15% American Indian.