The principal of a Florida charter school has said she was forced to resign this week after some parents complained that sixth-graders were shown images of Michelangelo's David statue in class, The Washington Post reports.

One of the fathers believed that the art lesson about the Renaissance masterpiece amounted to pornographic material.

Principal Hope Carrasquilla says she resigned after a school board meeting in which she was given a choice between resigning or firing. She chose to resign and says she was not told why she was being asked to resign.

Barney Bishop III, president of the school board and a lobbyist, confirmed to The Post that he gave Carrasquilla an ultimatum following complaints from three parents who felt the material on David was "controversial" and not appropriate for their children's age. Bishop, who on the advice of school lawyers did not say why he asked Carrasquilla to resign, said there were several problems with the principal, including not notifying parents in advance that the Renaissance statue would be shown to their children.

"She wasn't fired for the artistic nude images. We show it every year to our students," Bishop said, adding that Carrasquilla "resigned voluntarily." "The problem with this particular issue was the lack of follow-up to the process."

Tallahassee Classical, which follows a curriculum from Hillsdale College, Michigan's conservative, Christian institution that has helped launch dozens of charter "classical" schools across the country, is required to teach Renaissance art to sixth-graders. The lesson on David also included images of Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" and Botticelli's "Birth of Venus."

The principal has acknowledged that she did not warn parents about the content of the class, but says that while two parents were upset that they were not notified, but that one of them thought that his son was being exposed to pornography.

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