All 24 schools in the Augusta County School District in Virginia were closed Friday after backlash from parents who were upset with a homework assignment given out by Rivershead High School teacher Cheryl LaPorte last week, according to NewsMax. The school's world geography class had just arrived at the section on world religions, and for the section on Islam, students were asked to practice some calligraphy by copying down a religious phrase.
The instructions for the assignment were: "Here is the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy," according to CNN. Students were then showed an illustrative text, which translated to, "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah."
The assignment led to numerous angry phone calls and emails to the school district, but while there was no outright evidence of a threat, the County decided to cancel class today in all its schools because of "concerns regarding the tone and content of those communications", and "based on recommendations of law enforcement and the Augusta County School Board," according to the district's statement.
"Neither of these lessons, nor any other lessons in the world geography course, are an attempt at indoctrination to Islam or any other religion or a request for students to renounce their own faith or profess any belief," said Eric Bond, of Augusta County Schools, according to CNN.
Concerned parents, like Kimberly Herndon, along with other members of the town of almost 24,000, gathered at Good Will Ministries on Tuesday to voice their outrage.
"There was no trying about it. The sheet she gave out was pure doctrine in its origin," said Herndon, according to CNN. "I will not have my children sit under a woman who indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian."
Students will still be learning about world religions, as is required by their state academic standards, according to the Washington Post, but will now be practicing calligraphy using non-Islamic samples.
