The fallout from a Florida charter school’s decision to oust his principal for giving a lesson on Michelangelo David (1501-04) – deemed “pornographic” by a relative – continues to spread.
Shortly after the scandal broke, the Florida Department of Education released a official statement making it clear that he would not ban classroom teaching on the iconic example of Renaissance sculpture – despite the state’s increasingly censored attitude towards the teaching of other topics. And earlier this week, the ultra-conservative institution Hillsdale Collegewho raised funds to help found the anti-David Tallahassee Classical School, cut ties with the school.
“The statue of David has artistic and historical value. Florida encourages the teaching of classics and classical art, and would not prohibit its use in education,” said Florida Department of Education Director of Communications Alex Lanfranconi. Voice of Florida. A department spokesperson added in a statement, “The issue at Tallahassee Classical School is between the school and an employee, and is not the effect of rule or state law.”
The whole scandal started as “a series of misunderstandings” according to Hope Carasquilla, the now former manager of Tallahassee Classical. She told the Tallahassee Democrat she was forced to quit after parents complained about the irregularity of an art history lesson featuring Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of David, a marble representation of the biblical hero. While frenzied media coverage, memes and late night comedy sketches ensued, the president of Tallahassee Classical doubled down and the mayor of Florence intervened, inviting Carasquilla to visit the statue in person at the Galleria dell’Accademia.
The scandal unfolds amid efforts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to radically transform Florida’s education system into arm the teachers, ban books And sanitation programs in order to fight what he sees as “liberal indoctrination” and “fashionable ideologies” throughout the state.
