Hillsdale College will cut ties with a Florida charter school that made national headlines when its principal was forced to resign over a flap about “pornography” in a lesson about Renaissance art.
In a statement released Wednesday, College officials said Hillsdale is no longer affiliated with Tallahassee Classical Academy.
They said Tallahassee Classical had previously held a license to use Hillsdale’s curricular materials. That license has been revoked and will expire at the end of the school year.
The news comes as the charter school was in the national spotlight this week when its principal was forced to resign after a parent complained that sixth graders were exposed to pornography during a lesson on Renaissance art that included Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture.
Hillsdale College provides curriculum to a number of schools across the country as a free resource.
In Wednesday’s statement, officials said “Hillsdale’s relations with those schools are founded upon a mutual understanding about the aims of education.”
They said the “drama around teaching Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture, one of the most important works of art in existence, has become a distraction from, and a parody of, the actual aims of classical education.”
Hillsdale’s K-12 art curriculum includes Michelangelo’s “David” and other works of art that depict the human form.
