KFDM covered tonight's school board meeting and the issue the community says is tearing the district apart.
The board kicked off tonight's meeting with a chance for the public to express it's feelings on a recent world geography lesson.
This picture of Lumberton High School students wearing burkas made waves after appearing on Facebook and national news.
Some say it was nothing more than a lesson meant to educate students about different cultures.
Others believe the message was riddled with hidden propaganda that has no place in the classroom.
Last month a teacher led an AP World Geography lesson about Islam.
As the superintendent says the teacher has done in many years past, the teacher gave students the option of trying on burkas.
The students posed for a photo and that's when the controversy began.
At tonight's meeting nearly a dozen people addressed the board with concerns about the lesson.
One man said, "Islam is not a religion. It's a way of life; a government system."
Another man, a World War II veteran, said Lumberton is, "no longer immune to that cancer called Islam."
Others shared a different view.
A teacher at Lumberton High School urged people to remember the district's goal is to, "empower children with knowledge. America is a marketplace of ideas."
Many people voiced concerns the lesson was part of CSCOPE: an optional tax-payer funded state curriculum.
The district says the lesson was not a part of CSCOPE.
Sophomore Zachary Kellas appreciated the class as a freshman. "If you examine the Middle East, which is probably the best example, many countries are run completely by Islamic people. The whole country's law system is based on Islamic principles. So to understand Islamic principles and laws of the country one would need to better understand the Islamic religion."
April LeBlanc's daughter is one of the students wearing a burka in the photo. "The photo is what helped all these parents come out here and speak their mind or be considered about just the curriculum. Not only that, but the way this school district has handled the situation."
Some people who spoke tonight were in favor of teaching different religions and some were against Islam in the classroom.
Many voiced separate concerns about CSCOPE.
The school board president said he's received more than 200 emails about these issues.
He believes the district handled things incorrectly but promised to review both the world geography lesson and the CSCOPE concern.People in Lumberton address school board about world geography lesson, CSCOPE
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