--- description: A school district in Virginia is closed Friday over an assignment that some parents felt was a form of Islamic indoctrination. title: Virginia School District Closed Over Arabic Assignment image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt265e196b2b0add57/69887608cd1bba620a6fe993/school-bus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Virginia School District Closed Over Arabic Assignment  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 18, 2015 12:33 PM CUT  Yellow school buses parked diagonally Yellow school buses parked diagonallyGetty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 18, 2015 12:33 PM CUT A school district in Virginia is closed Friday over an assignment that some parents and community members felt was a form of Islamic indoctrination. On Dec. 11 during a Geography lesson on world religions, teacher Cheryl LaPorte at Riverheads High School had her students write out an Islamic statement of faith to practice calligraphy, [the Staunton News Leader reports](http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2015/12/15/augusta-county-riverheads-high-school-teacher-world-geography-islam-angry-parents/77374858/ "undefined"). The statement translates to, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” The students were not asked to translate or speak the sentence, but local parents were outraged at the assignment, seeing it as a form of Islamic proselytization in a public school. In [a post](http://www.augusta.k12.va.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=518 "undefined") on the Augusta County Public Schools website, the school board announced the district would be closed Friday “following parental objections to the World Geography curriculum and ensuing related media coverage… voluminous phone calls and electronic mail locally and from outside the area.” The statement says there “has been no specific threat of harm to students,” but that the closure was ordered “based on concerns regarding the tone and content of those communications.” [According to the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/12/17/furor-over-arabic-assignment-leads-virginia-school-district-to-close-friday/?hpid=hp%5Fhp-more-top-stories%5Fno-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory "undefined"), the school district serves about 10,000 students in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia about 150 miles outside Washington, D.C. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4154591/islam-arabic-school-virginia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4154591/islam-arabic-school-virginia/"},"headline":"Virginia School District Closed Over Arabic Assignment","datePublished":"2015-12-18T12:33:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:29:14.662Z","description":"Some parents thought their pupils were being indoctrinated","url":"https://time.com/4154591/islam-arabic-school-virginia/","keywords":["Education","Religion","Virginia","Islam"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt265e196b2b0add57/69887608cd1bba620a6fe993/school-bus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt265e196b2b0add57/69887608cd1bba620a6fe993/school-bus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yellow school buses school closure","caption":"Yellow school buses school closure","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4154591/islam-arabic-school-virginia/","name":"Virginia School District Closed Over Arabic Assignment"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Christian College Suspends Hijab-Wearing Professor Over Islam Comments","description":"A professor at a Christian university was placed on administrative leave after she wore a hijab and said Islam and Christianity worship the same god.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yCyKh6xs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-16T22:00:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yCyKh6xs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4154591/islam-arabic-school-virginia/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4154591/islam-arabic-school-virginia/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```