A school principal in Florida has been fired following parental complaints that children were exposed to pornography after being shown Michelangelo’s iconic statue of David.
The incident occurred at Tallahassee Classical School following a Renaissance art lesson which included images of the David statue as well as Michelangelo’s Birth of Adam and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
This led to complaints from parents, with one claiming the students in sixth grade were shown pornographic material, and others saying they should have been informed in advance about the nature of the lesson.
The school board told principal Hope Carrasaquilla to either resign or be fired, local media reported, however the board’s chair Barney Bishop told HuffPost that the art lesson was “one of several issues” with the school head.
Bishop told the New York Post that the school board recently passed a rule to ensure that parents are alerted two weeks before any “potentially controversial" curriculum is taught, including offering the chance to view photos connected to the lessons.
The news has been met with disbelief in Italy, with the country’s deputy premier Matteo Salvini writing on Twitter: “Obscuring and erasing history, art and culture for girls and boys in the name of “politically correct”. Crazy stuff, there is absolutely nothing correct about this.”
Sculpted between 1501 and 1504, Michelangelo’s marble sculpture of the Biblical figure David can be seen at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence.