Virginia School Shuts Down Over Homework Assignment; New Security Measures for Theme Parks.
WHITFIELD: Augusta County, Virginia, is surrounded by a lot of controversy today. The reason, administrators shut down all public schools after a teacher handed out a homework assignment on calligraphy. Some parents saw it as an attempt to convert their children. Here's Jason Carroll with details.</s>JASON CAROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a written homework assignment for ninth graders attending their world geography class at Riverhead's High School in Stanton, Virginia. A calligraphy assignment to copy this is what caused an entire school district to cancel classes.</s>CHUCK LAYMEN, PARENT: Most people just don't really understand what exactly was put into that work sheet that the kids were sent home with.</s>CAROLL: According to the school, the assignment said, 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. But instead of a lesson on calligraphy, the school district learned a lesson about the complexity surrounding Islam. Americans, uneasy now with anything having to do with their religion, in the wake of the recent terror attacks overseas and at home.</s>KIMBERLY HERNDON, UPSET MOTHER: I will not have my children sit under a woman who indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian And I'm going to stand behind Christ.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why couldn't we just try to write hello, good- bye, you know, normal words, not that?</s>CAROLL: The local sheriff's department says the Augusta school district received hate mail from people accusing the teacher of trying to convert children to Islam. So, the district canceled classes Friday for the entire county, all of its 10,000 students. They say there was no specific threat, but school officials did say the "tone and content," are some of the communications was concerning. The superintendent released a statement which reads, "As we have emphasized, no lesson was designed to promote a religious viewpoint or change any students' religious belief. Although students will continue to learn about world religions, as required by the state board of education and the commonwealth standards of learning, a different non- religious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future." A number of students talked to Facebook to defend the lesson and the teacher. One post reads, "I personally was not offended by this. I liked the assignment," calling his instructor "an amazing teacher." The teacher had lifted the calligraphy lesson from a standard workbook on world religion and according to the sheriff, had assigned it before without any threats or backlash. Muslim leaders now say the cultural climate has shifted to an unsettling place.</s>COREY SAYLOR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: It shows us the level of anti-Islam hysteria in the United States. We want our children to understand the world in which they will live and unfortunately, we find that some parents are just terrified of even a simple calligraphy assignment.</s>CAROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.</s>WHITFIELD: So the terror attacks in San Bernardino and Paris have Americans on edge. This is now the second school to cancel classes in less than a week. The Los Angeles school district shut down schools earlier at this week after receiving a cyber-related terror threat, and now, the heightened concern has major theme parks settling into a new reality. Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld theme parks have added some security measures that are new. Disney, so far has taken the most precaution installing metal detectors at all of its U.S. Parks, banning toy guns is also not allowing anyone over the age of 14 to wear costumes. And its adding dogs trained to smell body-worn explosives. Joining me right now to discuss is Carl Herron. He is a former FBI crisis response agent and is the security manager for the Georgia dome, home to the NFL'S Atlanta falcons. All right. Good to see you, Carl.</s>CARL HERRON, FORMER FBI CRISIS RESPONSE AGENT: Good to see you, Fredericka.</s>WHITFIELD: OK. So, this seems to be the new norm, heightening security measures, even if it means, you know, at a family-related Disney park, right?</s>HERRON: Yeah. It's something that gradually was going to come about. You look at Disney, it's a U.S. Icon known throughout the world. And when you have something where you have a lot of people considered a soft target, I think the measures are right, what they're putting in place right now.</s>WHITFIELD: And we all recall, even before the Super Bowl, and there were concerns about the soft targets, the places leading to the crowds that take you to the stadium. So how about those soft targets that even surround let say, like a Disney or Universal parks, while you have the magnetometers, there are still crowds right before that.</s>HERRON: Correct, you know, one thing I looked at in the Paris attacks, there were venues that or places that were attacked that fit just that mold. There was the restaurant, the places outside of the venue of the soccer venue. So the same would apply with here, but what Disney is doing is probably rolling this out slowly, to see how the crowd the flow goes, with implementing something new. And they should also probably get out with a P.R. program, just like with the NFL on the clear bag policy. So I would see that following.</s>WHITFIELD: Meaning, what would have to be the narrative or what happens to that.</s>HERRON: There's a narrative of being, these things are banned from coming inside of the park, toy guns, metal objects, knives. And going to have people bringing them by mistake, but they would need to get that P.R. message out there, ahead of time.</s>WHITFIELD: Even as it pertains to other events, "Star Wars," it was huge last night, and now we're talking about of people being screened through metal detectors, in some venues, people were not allowed to wear costumes and when people go to see "Star Wars," they generally want to be in costume. Is that where we are with movie theaters? I mean, do you think this is the natural progression of safety?</s>HERRON: I think things will gradually go that way, because of, there are things that you can put in place that won't be as militaristic or -- for the general public. So you have to kind of way that balance with the public and security and safety.</s>WHITFIELD: So, overall, adjustments have to be made, I mean, that is the bottom line. Security cannot be and remain the same. It has to change, just as the sign of the times changed.</s>HERRON: Correct, correct, that I -- give you a good example is after the Boston marathon bombing, the NFL implemented its clear bag policy, because of the backpacks that were left there from the Boston marathon. So, and they came out with a good pr package on that. What was allowed in, what was not of the sizes. So it has to get out to the public, what you can and cannot. So it can help them enjoy, you know, when they come to the event, you know, know what they can and cannot bring.</s>WHITFIELD: And how concerned are you about the difficulties of they're trying to strike the balance, trying to get ahead with security changes, at the same time, allow people, just as we heard in our last segment with Cyrus, you know, weighing the civil liberties?</s>HERRON: Yeah, and I think it can be done. It's more or less educating the public. If we want to attend venues, then these are the security measures we have to go through. Now, those security measures also have to be balanced with you attending an event, how long it's going to take you to get in. And that's why they say, they might be testing ...</s>WHITFIELD: Yeah,</s>HERRON: ... the crowd flow, you know, how long it's going to take to get people through, if we're wanting them, if they're going through the metal detector, if the detector goes off, what do you do with that person? So, there's a lot of policy procedures and things that are going into place.</s>WHITFIELD: Got it. All right, thanks so much, Carl Herron.</s>HERRON: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: Great to see you. Thank you so much.</s>HERRON: OK, thanks.</s>WHITFIELD: All right just in to CNN now, a Russian President Vladimir Putin says, he is ready to use, "more military means in Syria if needed." Putin's remarks came during a gala reception at the Kremlin. He touted what he sees as progress in Russia's military campaign in Syria and indicated Russia has even more military force that it can unleash. We'll have much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.