A large crowd gathered Thursday night at Lakeland's Board of Education meeting after last week's meeting ended with racist insults and alleged threats against the board.

The meeting was held at Lakeland High School in Shrub Oak.

The Lakeland Federation of Teachers says this is the first time in 25 years it asked its members to attend a board meeting.

The president of the group says there have been issues at public comment before but that this "escalated to an entirely new level that, quite simply, cannot be tolerated."

As the meeting was wrapping up, audience members shouted racial slurs at two district leaders.

The Federation of Teachers says one of those leaders had to call police as she drove home because someone was following her.

The meeting was supposed to be about the proposed budget, but many speakers chose to speak out against masks and what they called "illegal" children in school.

Someone shouted at one Black parent, "We're not trying to live in Harlem" and "We don't want diversity."

Another person shouted, "How German of you" when the Jewish board president tried to get the meeting under control.

Some of the audience members were part of the group "Save Our Schools," which is against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in school.

They see it as a radical theory that teaches kids to believe white people are inherently racist.

It's not only teachers who will be at the meeting to support the board, but also some neighbors from the Yorktown Democratic Committee - who are postponing a meeting just to be there.

Politicians from the local level up to Congress also came to show support against what happened last week.