Tallahassee Classical

Supposedly great things are often a disappointment when actually seen. The Mona Lisa was smaller, darker, and less engrossing than I expected. San Marco in Venice or Notre Dame in Paris didn’t grab me the way that less-renowned St Chapelle in Paris did.

Sometimes, great things are even better in person. Five that literally took my breath away were coptering into the Grand Canyon, entering into Niagara Falls on The Maid of the Mist, viewing Picasso’s “Guernica”, looking up at the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and standing next to Michelangelo’s “David”. It is unfortunate that, like me, most folks have to delay seeing these wonders until they are retired and can afford the trip. Of course, students can experience this timeless beauty in books and videos.

Unless those students are in Ron DeSantis’s Florida. The principal at Tallahassee Classical School was fired this week after parents complained that their sixth grade children were shown a photo of Michaelangelo’s “David”. Several parents deemed it “pornographic”. Those parents complained at a meeting of the charter school’s Board of Governors. The Board then fired the principal after less than a year on the job. She was the third principal at Tallahassee Classical since 2020.

Don’t buy any green bananas if you are the principal at Tallahassee Classical. You will likely be moving soon.

The Chairman of the school’s Board of Governors, Barney Bishop said, “Parental rights trump everything else in education. Parents chose Tallahassee Classical because they didn’t like the “woke” indoctrination that was going on in public schools. That former principal is simply trying to gin up a lot of publicity by going public with her firing.”

Lest we think that Barney is simply a prude, he is a misogynist and a bigot as well. He said, “We don’t use pronouns at Classical. We don’t teach CRT and we don’t ever mention the 1619 Project.”

I always had problems with pronouns in my days studying grammar but my major problem was with adverbs. How can they define both verbs and adjectives? If my kids were students at Classical, I’d insist that they never had to use adverbs and pronouns. Of course, my kids would never have to learn about racial inequality in America. We are Reagan’s “shining city on the hill”. End of discussion.

Oh by the way…Tallahassee Classical lost its accreditation in 2022 for poor student test scores,

Is this an example of where national education is headed under a President DeSantis? Donnie appointed a totally-unqualified Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Will Ronnie appoint totally-unqualified Barney Bishop to that post?

By Ed Dufton