Social media was appalled when a picture of six girls from Desert Vista High School surfaced of them spelling the N-word with their shirts.

The girls posed for a photo on Snapchat, wearing black shirts with gold embroidered letters that spelled the N-word. They were a part of the larger, senior group photo taken previously that spelled “Best You’ve Ever Seen Class of 2016”.

Although the school is not legally allowed to release the punishment that the six girls received, the Phoenix New Times says that it’s rumored that it was a five-day suspension.

However, social media thought that this was not a harsh enough punishment for such a casual use of a racial slur in a public school.

A change.org petition has over 40,000 signatures for the girls involved to be expelled as well as the principal involved, Christine Barela to be fired. The founder of this petition, Bri Handy from Phoenix herself claims that the punishment that the students received was “not enough for the disgusting racial slur the administration seems to be treating as a harmless prank”.

There are plans for supporters to rally and protest at the high school at 3:00 pm on January 25, 2016.

Tempe Union High School District spokeswomen Jill Hanks claims that the girls will be punished according to the district policies and that the girls were not under teacher supervision when they took this photo.

The school is continuing with a “sensitivity workshop” that was scheduled before the incident to help “tear down the walls of separation”, according to Desert Vista High School’s website.

Desert Vista High School is using the hashtag “ThunderStrong” to show social media that the actions of these girls do not reflect the entire school.