Virginia county closes schools over reaction to Arabic assignment

A lesson in calligraphy has prompted an uproar amongst some mother and father at a Virginia highschool when college students have been instructed to write down a Muslim assertion of religion, which reads: ‘There isn’t any god however Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’.

The entire Augusta County, Virginia, school district will be closed Friday, a week after one teacher touched off controversy by issuing an assignment to students, during a block study of world religions, asking them to copy an example of Arabic calligraphy-the Islamic statement of faith, or shahada.

Augusta County School Superintendent Dr. Eric Bond said that the lesson was within the curriculum, and was acceptable because it was a part of learning about Middle East culture and its religions.

Augusta County Public Schools will be closed on Friday and all games and afternoon activities for Thursday evening have been canceled.

The Muslim-friendly calligraphy assignment took place in a world geography class. The teacher had the kids copy the Muslim statement of faith, also known as the shahada.

A number of individuals who got here out for the assembly referred to as for Cheryl LaPorte’s termination within the wake of the incident. As a result of those communications, the Sheriff’s Office and the school division coordinated to increase police presence at Augusta County schools and to monitor those communications.

“When they asked me to dress up, I said no and the aide said okay, well the teacher pushed and pushed and pushed so I did it, and when she took a picture, I asked for it not to be in the yearbook and she said it was, so that’s when my parents called the school.”

Bond says the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” after consulting with law enforcement. While there has been no specific threat of harm to students, schools and school offices will be closed Friday, December 18, 2015.

The county canceled extracurricular activities through the weekend.

“These children were deceived when they were told it was calligraphy”, the parent, Kimberly Herndon, told NBC29 television.

“They were simply asked to attempt to artistically render written Arabic in order to understand its artistic complexity”, they added.

The school system says there is no specific threat to students or the schools. Christian parents in the community were outraged and hosted a heated forum on Tuesday night at a Greenville church.

The district said the assignment was consistent with the Virginia Department of Education Standards of Learning and the requirements for content instruction on world monotheistic religions.