Florida Parents Say Michelangelo's 'David' is Pornographic
Is Michelangelo's "David" pornographic? A group of parents in Florida seem to think so and now a charter school principal has been forced to resign.
As reported by the Washington Post, principal Hope Carrasquilla of Tallahassee Classical School in Leon County, Florida, offered her resignation during an emergency school board meeting on Monday after she was given an ultimatum by the board to resign or be fired. The emergency meeting was called after parents complained about a lesson on the Renaissance.
"It is with a sad heart that my time as the principal of Tallahassee Classical School has come to an end," Carrasquilla wrote in a letter on Thursday to the school board. The letter was obtained by The Washington Post.
Barney Bishop III, the chair of the school board and a lobbyist, confirmed that Carrasquilla did receive ultimatum, and the school board reportedly received complaints from three parents urging that "David" was "controversial" and not age-appropriate for their children. According to Bishop, parents should have been notified ahead of time that their children would be shown Renaissance art.
"She wasn't let go because of the artistic nude pictures. We show it every year to our students," Bishop said. "The problem with this particular issue was the lack of follow-through on the process."
Tallahassee Classical follows a curriculum from Hillsdale College, "the conservative, Christian institution in Michigan that has helped launch dozens of 'classical' charter schools nationwide," the Washington Post reports. According to the curriculum, it is required to teach Renaissance art to sixth-graders, and the lesson included images of "The Creation of Adam" fresco painting and "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli.
Per protocol, Carrasquilla acknowledged in her letter to the school board that she did not notify parents about the lesson before images of "David" were shown in class. But Carrasquilla's husband, Victor, describes her as "a strong evangelical Christian" who should not have been forced to resign.
What's next? Putting pants on the Washington Monument? Where does it end? This is Gov. Ron DeSantis' Florida.