In a press release, Tallahassee Classical announced that the charter school has retained Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court Justice to address the false narrative created around a story by the Tallahassee Democrat.
The full statement is provided below.
The Tallahassee Democrat story – published on March 23 – claimed that the “school principal (Hope Carrasquilla) said she was forced to resign after a parent complained a Renaissance art lesson was pornographic.” The alleged characterization of the renaissance art sparked outrage across the globe and resulted in Hillsdale College dropping their affiliation with the school.
The release notes that “the press incorrectly reported that Carrasquilla’s failure to follow school policy and notify parents in advance of the art lesson was a “last straw” in the decision to request her resignation.”
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Tallahassee Classical School Continues to Set the Record Straightand Retains Lawson Huck Gonzalez Law Firm for False Media Reports
We will continue to be transparent and ensure the facts are at the forefront of this conversation. A false narrative has sadly spread due to inaccurate reporting. Tallahassee Classical School will continue to teach classical education and the arts as that is the core of our curriculum. Our program is rooted in traditional principles of moral character and civic virtue, portrayed as part of Western Civilization.
Studying the Renaissance, including the art of the period, is part of the curriculum. In fact, Michelangelo’s Statue of David has been a celebrated and powerful part of our lessons. At no time have we viewed that work of art as pornographic. At no time have we considered removing the David statue from our curriculum, and Michelangelo’s David will continue to be studied as part of our curriculum next year, as it has in years past.
We have committed to parents that we will inform them of the upcoming curriculum, as we’ve done every year, in case parents elect to have their scholars skip a particular lesson. Though the school and Principal Carrasquilla did agree to part ways, the press incorrectly reported that Carrasquilla’s failure to follow school policy and notify parents in advance of the art lesson was a “last straw” in the decision to request her resignation. In fact, there was no immediate request for Carrasquilla to resign after she failed to follow the parental notification policy in late February of 2023. In early March there were two additional unrelated incidents of poor job performance by Carrasquilla. It was only after those two subsequent incidents that the Board Chairman requested Carrasquilla’s resignation. Because this is an employment matter, we will not elaborate further.
Again, as this story has made international news and harmed the school, it is important to reiterate that at no time has Tallahassee Classical School characterized Michelangelo’s Statue of David as pornography. Any suggestion otherwise is false and defamatory.
We know engaged parents are key to a successful scholar experience. We respect that parents are the ultimate decision-makers for their children. We know that some parents send their scholars to charter schools, so they have more of a say over what goes on in the classroom. At Tallahassee Classical, we will protect people who are in the minority of the opinion, as much as we’re going to respect the people who are in the majority of the opinion.
The Board of Trustees has engaged the law firm of Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC to provide counsel on the false narrative that is evident in many media reports claiming that our Principal was fired. The law firm includes Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court Justice who has agreed to assist Tallahassee Classical School in obtaining retractions of false media reports. Further media inquiries on this matter may be directed to info@LawsonHuckGonzalez.com
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Tallahassee Classical Retains Counsel Related to “False Narrative” added by Staff on
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Al Lawson is not the brother of Laurie Lawson Cox.
I knew her mother, and you’d think it would have come up in conversation once or twice.
Hey Esq. Lawson:
Did you see this?
https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/04/03/heres-how-to-raise-a-new-generation-of-republican-voters-suppress-learning/
“A public charter school in Tallahassee, Tallahassee Classical, paid for by your tax dollars, forced the principal out because she (or somebody) failed to notify parents that a sixth grade Renaissance art class would, in fact, be looking at Renaissance art.”
That was published yesterday, APRIL 3, long after Bishop issued a public statement refuting it.
Isn’t that called “actual malice?”
@PatA: No self-respecting fish would allow itself to be wrapped in a Fake Newsocrat!
Ms Steph
You are failing at being the topic police.
Let’s hope their attorneys don’t read this quote from Board chair Barney Bishop:
“And you don’t have to show the whole statue! Maybe to kindergartners we only show the head. You can appreciate that. You can show the hands, the arms, the muscles, the beautiful work Michelangelo did in marble, without showing the whole thing.”
Nicholas Weed you are off topic. Your comments are uninformed which is closer to the subject of this article. Trump is up on 30 charges, just in NY, and they have not been published yet.
Alan Lawson, brother of School Board member Laurie Lawson Cox, is representing the public charter school? Might be relevant to the discussion, might not be….
Mr Whip
WRONG!!!
I’m getting tired of this having to go behind you and clean up on aisle nine.
You can’t single out two commissioners and call them woke. Learn to add, there are five, two of them (M & P) just have more brains, fiscal responsibility, and common sense than the other three.
@David. Knowing Mrs.Carrasquilla, I would be shocked if she was the one that contacted the Democrat.
@Nicholas Weed. The problem was Mrs. Carrasquilla was trying to hold the school and parents to a higher standard that they were not willing to make
Pathetic and sad all the way around.
SNL did a sketch on this controversy, on their Fake News segment:
https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1642388765401395203?s=20
Add them to the lawsuit.
NBC has lots more money than the Fake Newsocrat.
Would love to see Barney own them after this is settled.
Total leftist hit job. Expect we will identify the local school superintendant along with our beloved 2 woke commisdioners M & P will be found to have their fingerprints all over this debacle after the Florida Department of Education finishes its investigation.
The School has said that the Art Class has used the Statue of David in their Art Lesson for Years and will next year. They also said that their School is Diverse and has two Muslim Students whose beliefs are that the Statue of David is considered Porn.
Because of that, the School sends out two Notices that the Art Class will soon be studying the Statue of David in Art Class, one early in the Year and the other 2 weeks before the Lesson.
MY Question is = Were either of the two Muslim Students in the Class this Year when this happened? This is a LOT of Drama just because someone didn’t send out the SECOND Notice about a Lesson that is taught every Year.
.
Starting to get a little pathetic here. Will test the limit of these voucher schools’ accountability, so far quite shaky
Quote of the week:
“then charge a President, who lives in Florida, with a crime of supposedly paying hush money to a porn start 7 years ago.”
The Mar-A-Lago raid (farce) coincided with Hunter’s laptop problems gaining traction and verification.
The DA Bragg prosecutorial misconduct coincides with the recent verifications of the Biden China Russia Ukraine Corruptions and the House majority having the authority to investigate and validate, AKA TREASON.
The deflections will not stand they will be exposed for what they are.
Fake News is fake news. The mainstream media, including the Talla Democrat, have political agendas aligned with the Democrat party. And it isn’t just this story that formed my opinion. As far as I am concerned the only reason to buy a copy of the Talla Democrat is to line a bird cage or wrap fish.
And another thing, it has been decades since a politician made his/her accomplishments the center of their campaign. Today, it is attack and lie about your political opponents. And it is obvious law enforcement has been weaponized to attack opponents of the Democrat agenda. Tell me how you can charge a Bodega Owner with 2nd Murder and lock him up in the Rikers Island Jail because he obviously acted in self-defense then charge a President, who lives in Florida, with a crime of supposedly paying hush money to a porn start 7 years ago.
And if you think ignorant, uneducated people don’t believe Democrat party lies…look how many people are still wearing a mask. Better yet, there are voters that think there are more than two sexes.
There is a great video on you tube. Search “NBA or NFL” and see how crocked our politicians are and how the liberal media covered for them.
Mr Whip
Wrong!
I believe the straw that broke the camel’s back was the art lesson and not getting releases from parents. When they were embarrassed on the world stage for this nonsense they are trying to backpedal in my opinion. This is so unnecessary and so ridiculous there are more things that should be front and center. To pick on some poor little principal and some poor little reporter and ignore the $25 million giveaway, the $100,000 misappropriation of funds by the CSC to the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, and the most recent sign off at City Hall regarding benefits before knowing the financial impact, speaks volumes as to the dysfunction in this city. All this shows is the synergy that is supposed to create a positive effect only ignites situations into the ludicrous stratosphere. Goodness gracious!
The bigger story here should be the nonsense that they put front and center and the complete corruption that they ignore.
It’s the Tallahassee Classical Board’s fault. Period. This is what happens when people who don’t understand what they are doing are placed on board for financial or political reasons. Even HOA boards know how to handle situations without having it blown up throughout the WORLD.
Replace the board. Period.
Great to know the school is taking legal action against media ganging up on the school with hurtfull intent by knowingly pushing out a false narrative to damage the business AKA the school.
But guess what the media we are talking about is not just TDO.COM. Oh no this narrative was pushed out worldwide.
But wait theres more. The media also personally defamed a local hero and legend in the person of the most powerful board member who has legal standing to file a seperate lawsuit in regards to what media did personally to him.
Now I know local typical leftist minded voters are thinking “our limp wristed lefty Judges will shoot these legitimate lawsuits down”. Well stop and think for a moment the board of the injured school and their law firm know that too. And what happened is so egregious that they dont mind making a worthless FIRST stop before your worthless local Judges if that is what it takes for justice to prevail.
If the school is finding this principal unacceptable that was asked to resign, and did, why was she hired in the first place?
Also, hasn’t there been a revolving door of principals so there’s is a problem with perhaps the Board needs to be more proactive in their choices of who they hire? A sometimes wise man once said you can’t solve a problem you fail to recognize.
– A teacher was asked to resign and she did.
– News entities are fighting with each other.
– One side disputes the other’s regarding narratives.
– Is any of this captured in the board meetings minutes?
– Not a good expenditure of funds for a school to be making. Pro-bono?
– Tallahassee embarrassed on the international stage.
– The school lost their curriculum license. (It was not the first time the school lost their standing).
All could have been avoided perhaps if calmer minds prevailed and the teacher let go at the end of the semester. Why create this much drama so close to the end of the school year?
It appears both sides responded in an unthinking way? It will be interesting to see which way the court interprets the situation.
Should we consider this a “classical” drama?
WOW…… I wonder that, if Hope Carrasquilla is the one that called the Tallahassee Democrat about her losing her Job, is all this what she was hoping for? Is all this type of attention what she was wanting?
Kudos to TCS for taking this step. As I’ve stated many times, “you cannot continue to take the high ground when dealing with people and organizations for which there is no high ground”. There are only so many cheeks to offer those that constantly slap you with malicious intent.
The evils of woke’ism and fake news must be dealt with head-on and without hesitation if we are to have any chance of saving what’s left of our great Constitutional Republic. As the old saying goes, and it is as true today than ever… “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men (and/or women) do nothing.”
A violent revolution is not the only way to protect Our Republic. A Truth Revolution can be just as effective if the masses act on and demand it.