Westboro Baptist Church members have made their way to Southern California, but students from Santa Monica High School started a counter-protest.

Read the original story below:

Schools superintendent Sandra Lyon is calling for peaceful counter-protests to the planned anti-gay picket at Santa Monica High School.

In a letter denouncing the planned Westboro Baptist Church picket as "hateful" and "potentially dangerous," Lyon urged anyone participating in a counter-protest to do so peacefully and respectfully.

"While we recognize that this is an excellent real life lesson about the First Amendment, we also know that such an assembly can put students and other citizens at risk," the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District superintendent wrote.

Read more at Santa Monica Patch