The Mayor of Florence, Italy defended a Florida principal who was forced to resign after parents complained about a lesson that involved Michelangelo’s Renaissance masterpiece ‘David.’
“A Florida teacher was forced to quit for showing students photos of Michelangelo’s David,” Florence Mayor Dario Nardella tweeted. “Mistaking art for pornography is just ridiculous.”
Hope Carrasquilla, the former principal of Tallahassee Classical School was forced to resign last week after a photo of the ‘David’ was shown to a sixth-grade art class. The school has a new policy that requires teachers to give parents two weeks advance notice before teaching any “potentially controversial” information.
But, Carrasquilla said “a series of miscommunication” led to the notice not being sent out and three parents filed complaints. Two of them said they wished they were notified and the third parent called the statue “pornography,” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Nardella said he will “personally invite the teacher to Florence to give her recognition on behalf of the city. Art is civilization and whoever teaches it deserves respect.”
The Florence museum housing the ‘David’ also invited parents and students from the Tallahassee Classical School to see the piece up close.
“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,” Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia said.
Carrasquilla told Politico that she is “very honored” by the invitations to Italy and she may accept.
“I am totally, like, wow,” Carasquilla said. “I’ve been to Florence before and have seen the ‘David’ up close and in person, but I would love to go and be a guest of the mayor.”
