Florida principal resigns after parents complain about ‘pornographic’ Michelangelo statue
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — The line between art and pornography is at the center of an education dispute after a Tallahassee charter school principal resigned, following accusations that middle school students were shown inappropriate adult content.
At issue? Students in the school were shown images of a Renaissance period sculpture, the “David,” leading to complaints that the children were shown pornographic material.
Tallahassee Classical School, a private institution focused on “training the minds and improving the hearts of young people through a content-rich classical education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue,” gave its principal an ultimatum to quit or be fired after three parents complained, according to reports by the Tallahassee Democrat.
The “David” is a Renaissance Period sculpture, depicting biblical hero David, of the famous David and Goliath tale, holding his sling in the nude and standing at over five meters tall. The statue itself is currently on display in Florence’s Galleria dell’ Accademia. The artwork was sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti in the early 1500s.
Principal Hope Carrasquilla, according to the Democrat, resigned Monday after the school board chair told her to resign or be fired. Chair Barney Bishop confirmed to the Democrat that he gave Carrasquilla that ultimatum, but would not explain why due to “advice” from the school’s attorney. Parents were informed by email on Monday.
Bishop told the Tallahassee Democrat that the notification policy at Tallahassee Classical was relatively recent, and required a parental notification two weeks before “potentially controversial” materials are shown.
Speaking with HuffPost, Bishop said that the sculpture issue was “one of multiple,” involving Carrasquilla. He also told the news organization that he was lobbying for legislation to give parents even more control over students’ primary education, saying that “parental rights trump everything else,” and saying that the parents who complained “didn’t like the woke indoctrination that was going on.”
Parental rights, as related to Florida education and curriculum, has become increasingly politicized over the past several years, with public debate and argument on the topic headlining multiple news stories related to teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity, COVID-19 masking policies, and critical race theory, among others.
State officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, have prioritized changing Florida laws and educational curriculum to remove so-called indoctrination at every level of education.
something to acknowledge is that despite the sculpture being commissioned in 1504 attempts to destroy it are actually a recent thing, the first recorded attempt was in 1991... almost half a millennium later
QuoteIn 1991, Piero Cannata, an artist whom the police described as deranged, attacked the statue with a hammer he had concealed beneath his jacket. He later said that a 16th-century Venetian painter's model ordered him to do so. Cannata was restrained as he was in the process of damaging the toes of the left foot
