TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida charter school principal has been forced to resign after a parent complained sixth graders were exposed to pornography during a lesson on Renaissance art that included Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture.
The Tallahassee Democrat reported that the principal, Hope Carrasquilla, of Tallahassee Classical School resigned this week after an ultimatum from the school board's chairman.
One parent complained the material was pornographic and two other parents said they wanted to be notified of the lesson before it was given to their children, Carrasquilla said. The instruction also included Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” painting and Botticelli's “Birth of Venus.”
“It saddens me that my time here had to end this way,” Carrasquilla told the paper.
The “David” statue's nudity has been part of a centuries-old debate about art pushing boundaries and the rules of censorship. In the 1500s, metal fig leaves covered the genitals of statues like David when the Roman Catholic Church deemed nudity as immodest and obscene.
The kerfuffle in Florida also prompted social media users to point out similarities to a 1990s episode of “The Simpsons” where characters debate the censorship of the "David" statue.
These complaints against perceived "pornographic" art being taught and shown in classrooms are the latest in challenges brought against schools and teachers in Florida. One primary focus of complaints centers on books.
In Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved laws to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race books pulled indefinitely or temporarily include John Green's “Looking for Alaska,” Colleen Hoover's “Hopeless,” Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel “The Handmaid's Tale” and Grace Lin's picture story “Dim Sum for Everyone!”
More recently, Florida's Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools, including numerous works by novelist Jodi Picoult, Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved” and James Patterson's “Maximum Ride” thrillers, a decision which the bestselling author has criticized on Twitter as “arbitrary and borderline absurd.”
DeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a “hoax," saying in a statement released earlier this month that the allegations reveal “some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.”
Some books do come back. Officials at Florida's Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed “Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” a children's biography of the late Puerto Rican baseball star. In February, they announced the book would again be on shelves, explaining that they needed to review it and make sure it didn't violate any state laws.
DeSantis' administration is moving to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the controversial "Parental Rights" law critics call “Don't Say Gay” as the Republican governor continues a focus on cultural issues ahead of his expected presidential run.
The proposal, which would not require legislative approval, is scheduled for a vote next month before the state Board of Education and has been put forth by the state Education Department, both of which are led by appointees of the governor.
The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4 to 12 unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. The initial law that DeSantis championed last spring bans those lessons in kindergarten through the third grade.
10 Tampa Bay's Claire Farrow contributed to this report.