Parents on Shelter Island are outraged following a lesson where students were asked personal questions and then encouraged to publicly answer in front of their peers.

The lesson called "cross the line" had children as young as sixth graders publicly acknowledge their sexual and gender identities. They were also asked about potential problems in their family life.

Students at Shelter Island School were told to line up and step forward if any of the statement said by a guidance counselor pertained to them.

Susan Cronin says her 12-year-old daughter was devastated after taking part in the lesson.

"It's mentally damaging - now I want to talk to my kids and ask them what they were asked," Cronin said.

Shelter Island Union Free School District Superintendent Brian Doelger apologized at Tuesday's school boarding meeting and said the questions were not pre-approved by administrators.

He says the point of the lesson was to teach kids about empathy.

"This was very poorly executed but the goal was to come up with some program that helps our students be happier," Doelger said.

Some parents at the meeting accused the school of pushing a political agenda on the students. They say going forward, they want the school to only focus on education.

"We shouldn't be putting kids and teachers in that situation where they have to feel isolated because they have a different opinion," one person said during the meeting. "It's not fair to them."

The superintendent says there was no effort to incorporate politics into school and that the program will not continue.

Some parents are asking for the guidance counselor who conducted the lesson to be fired, but the district would not discuss personnel matters during Tuesday's meeting.