Parents and community members responded to a controversial Arabic calligraphy assignment at an Augusta County School Board meeting Thursday at Wilson Memorial High School.
This was the first school board meeting after the county received national media attention over the calligraphy assignment.
The assignment was taught in a ninth grade world geography course at Riverheads High School and asked students to copy the Shahada — an Islamic statement of faith — using Arabic calligraphy.
The statement translates to read, “There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” An alternative translation is “There is no god but Allah. Muhammad was Allah's messenger.”
On Dec. 18, the school system closed its schools following “significant numbers” of emails and phone calls threatening school officials in response to the assignment. There were also threats of significant protests near school property.
Although the assignment was not on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, the school board anticipated there would be significant public comment about the assignment.
After conducting routine board business and a presentation about new school security updates, the board opened the floor for comments.
School Board Chair David Shiflett said the public comment period would not be a time for debate or remarks about specific students or county personnel.
“We are primarily here to listen to what you have to say and to listen to your concerns,” Shiflett said.
Shiflett also said, “all actions that will be taken regarding the [curriculum] concern have been taken.”
A different sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future, he said.
John Smith, a Stuarts Draft resident and Riverheads alum, opened his comment with a prayer and said he is concerned about the calligraphy assignment violating Christian beliefs.
“We are one nation under god — we’re not under Mohammad, we’re not under Allah,” said Smith, a pastor.
Michael Dorring, a Stuarts Draft resident and a minister from Rockingham County, also said the assignment conflicts with Biblical teachings.
“We all have seen things we hold dear as a country under attack,” Dorring said. “They’re being whittled away steadily.”
Waynesboro resident Penny Critzer, however, said her grandchildren attend Augusta schools and she supports the curriculum.
“I am a Christian and I think that our faith stands up fine when it’s compared to other religions,” Critzer said.
Critzer said she is concerned about the media attention surrounding the incident and any potential harm to students.
“There are people — and we hear about it all the time — who could be a danger to our kids, who now see us as narrow and unloving and uncaring,” she said. “Knowledge is important, knowledge is power. Our kids need to know what’s happening in the world.”
Larry Roller, a former educator, said the real issue is the state curriculum and not the teacher whose lesson is at the center of the controversy.
“I’m very concerned that a teacher who’s trying to do her job gets persecuted as she does because she’s teaching her curriculum that is mandated by the state,” Roller said.
Roller said if a part of the curriculum is not satisfactory, then concerns need to be brought to the state board of education.
Charlottesville resident and Riverheads alum Grace Zimmerman said the U.S. Constitution protected the lesson.
“Parents do not have the constitutional right under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to prevent public schools from presenting educationally valuable material that conflicts with their religious values,” Zimmerman said.
The assignment is part of a curriculum issue and should not be viewed as a religious conflict, she said.
Zimmerman also said she hopes the school board meeting will bring an end to the controversy over the assignment.
Zimmerman co-founded a Facebook group titled “SUPPORT LAPORTE” to support Riverheads social studies teacher Cheryl LaPorte, whose assignment is being debated. She also started a Change.org petition in support of LaPorte.
The Facebook group had over 6,230 members and Zimmerman gathered 1,666 signatures on the petition as of Friday.
Meanwhile, Riverheads parent Kimberly Herndon used social media to express her views before the school board meeting.
Herndon published a public Facebook post in December characterizing the calligraphy assignment as a form of Islamic indoctrination, and nearly 1,200 people shared the post.
Thursday morning, Herndon wrote in a public Facebook post that the board meeting wasn’t focused on the calligraphy assignment and some people wanted to use the meeting to “glorify those who are in the wrong.”
“This meeting was purposed to induct new members elected to this board,” Herndon wrote. “I will not use it to take that honor from those people and am not in agreement with those who plan to make this about a teacher who broke the law. That decision was made by the county of Augusta.”
Herndon also wrote, “the rights of the people in this county are what the core issue of this crisis is about” and “our time to speak will come.”
Herndon did not speak at the School Board meeting and could not be reached for comment.
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