Florida principal resigns after art class exposes students to Michelangelo statue

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The principal of a Florida charter school resigned under pressure from administrators after she failed to notify the parents of sixth-grade students that their children would be exposed to Michelangelo’s statue of David in a Renaissance art lesson. 

Key Players 

Hope Carrasquilla had been an educator in Tallahassee for over 20 years before becoming principal of Tallahassee Classical School (TCS), a charter school, in 2021. According to her Linkedin profile, Carrasquilla has taught in private, public, and charter schools and has been involved with the “classical method of instruction” as a teacher and an administrator throughout the past decade.

Barney Bishop III chairs TCS’s governing board. A career consultant and lobbyist, he is described in his company biography as “an outspoken advocate for the free enterprise system.”

After three terms as a U.S. representative, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was elected governor of Florida in 2018. Recognized as a staunch conservative, he has declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. DeSantis has promoted several pieces of legislation criticized for their effect on speech in schools, including the “Stop WOKE Act,” targeting critical race theory, and the act nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay,” which limits what teachers can say about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. 

Further Details

On March 23, 2023, Carrasquilla sent a letter of resignation to the TCS governing board, which was obtained by The Washington Post. He wrote, “It is with a sad heart that my time as the principal of Tallahassee Classical School has come to an end.”

The announcement of her voluntary departure followed an emergency school board meeting on March 20,when Carasquilla was given an ultimatum and forced to choose between resigning or being terminated by the board. 

This came in response to a controversial renaissance art class for sixth-grade students, during which 11- and 12-year-old students were shown full photos of Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture, depicting a naked man. According to the Tallahassee Democrat, parents complained to the board over the decision to include such art in the lesson, with one parent calling it “pornographic.”

However, as Bishop revealed in his interview with Slate, this was not the first time TCS sixth-graders were taught about Renaissance art and shown images of the statue. But this year, Carasquilla had reportedly failed to communicate with parents about the content their children would be exposed to. Bishop contended that, because of a lack of communication, as well as a number of other issues related to Carasquilla’s leadership style, the governing board had been concerned.

“I have supported [Carasquilla] as principal. But as I saw how things were going, how decisions were being made, I made the decision that this was the best thing for the school,” Bishop stated. 

Outcome 

Florence museum housing ‘David’ invites TCS families, Carrasquilla to visit

On March 26, Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy, where “David” resides, told The Associated Press that the controversy disappointed her, and said she was astonished that the sculpture could be considered by some to be pornographic. 

“To think that David could be pornographic means truly not understanding the contents of the Bible, not understanding Western culture and not understanding Renaissance art,” Hollberg said, later inviting Carrasquilla, the school board, parents, and students to the museum in order to view the “purity” of the statue.

Michigan’s Hillsdale College ends partnership with TCS

On March 30, in response to the event, a Hillsdale College spokesperson announced that the institution would no longer be affiliated with TCS. 

Previously, TCS had held a license to use curricular materials from the conservative college, but Hillsdale communicated that the license would expire at the end of the school year. 

“Hillsdale’s relations with . . . schools are founded upon a mutual understanding about the aims of education,” the college stated. “Education is a cooperative endeavor between students, parents, and teachers. Discretion, good judgment, and prudence are essential for that endeavor to be successful.”

But for Hillsdale, the David controversy had “become a distraction from, and a parody of, the actual aims of classical education.”

TCS parents divided over support for Bishop

On March 27, TCS held its first board meeting after Carrasquilla’s resignation, which reportedly had a record-breaking attendance by parents and teachers. What followed was both support and criticism of the school over Carrasquilla’s resignation. 

One parent, frustrated with the lack of information Bishop had been relaying to the parents, called on him to resign, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. “You’re saying [the resignation’s] not about David, but that’s all that’s coming up. Tell us what the problems were,” the parent stated. 

One teacher, in support of Bishop, asked what was “wrong with notifying parents in advance that an upcoming topic might be seen as somewhat controversial, leaving it to the parent to decide not whether we teach it, but rather that their child is present during that lesson?”

During the meeting, Bishop read a statement on behalf of the board, reiterating its belief that “parents rights are supreme.”