Some parents are upset after an Asbury Park teacher lined her students up by their skin color for a lesson.

Parents say a sixth grade social studies teacher at Sisters Academy lined up her class according to their skin color ? from light to dark. Many are outraged and wonder what their children could learn by the lesson.

The school admits the teacher did line up the students to teach the girls a lesson. Principal Sister Mary Lou Miller says a group of black girls were teasing another girl for having darker skin.

?We did not mean to offend,? Miller says. ?The girls wrote essays afterwards about the incident, about how it made them feel and how it was wrong. There was no malice here.?

The teacher apologized at a meeting held for parents and students. However, some parents say the apology doesn?t erase the damage.

Sisters Academy is funded by Mercy Center, a charitable group in Asbury Park.