School Board Chair Karen Rose calls on Bridget Ziegler to resign, joining Edwards, others

Sarasota School Board Chairwoman Karen Rose is calling for the resignation of her colleague Bridget Ziegler, joining fellow board member Tom Edwards in asking for her to step down in the wake of controversy.

Although there are 20 revised district school policies on the board's agenda for a vote on Tuesday evening, the focus of the meeting will almost certainly land on Ziegler. In what will likely be one of the most attended meetings since the board moved to terminate its previous superintendent last year, Ziegler faces a crowd of both conservatives and liberals calling on her to resign as investigators consider an allegation of sexual assault of another woman by her husband, Christian Ziegler.

Christian Ziegler also faces mounting pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans to resign his position as Florida GOP chairman.

Rose, who tends to align with Ziegler's conservative politics on the board, told Florida Politics that Ziegler's continued presence on the board would "cause irreparably harmful distractions to (the district's) critical mission."

“Our community has been rocked by the disturbing revelations surrounding my fellow School Board member Bridget Ziegler and the criminal allegations against her husband, Christian Ziegler," Rose told Florida Politics. "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the conduct and deplore the salacious news coverage. But my first responsibility is to the Sarasota County School District."

She said she asked Superintendent Terry Connor to add an item to Tuesday's agenda for a motion for a resolution asking for Ziegler to step down. The vote would put each board member on the record about whether they want Ziegler to remain on the panel.

The Herald-Tribune reached out to Rose for comment on Tuesday, but she did not respond.

Edwards, a self-described moderate endorsed by local Democrats, had called Tuesday for Ziegler's departure, saying she had become a distraction from student achievement.

"She is nothing but a distraction from before and only getting worse, and it will never go away as long as she sits there," he said. "As a School Board member, my focus is on our students, their academic achievement and educational outcomes. It is not on the Zieglers' escapades."

She has not been accused of any legal wrongdoing and was not under investigation as of Wednesday. Ziegler did not respond to requests for comment.

Board members Tim Enos and Robyn Marinelli, who campaigned with Ziegler in 2022 under the "ZEM" movement promoted by conservative Republicans, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Ziegler has served on the School Board since 2014 following an appointment by then-Gov. Rick Scott, and was also a co-founder of the conservative education activist group Moms for Liberty. The group has pushed for the removal of books and classroom materials with references to LGBTQ+ topics.

She was reelected in 2022, meaning her term ends in 2026.

If Ziegler were to resign her seat on the board, DeSantis would appoint a replacement until August, when the appointed incumbent could run for reelection. There is no policy to remove or vote to recall a School Board member from their seat.

Mounting calls for Bridget Ziegler to resign

Support our Schools, a local activist group that often sides against the conservative-leaning board majority, released a statement Wednesday denouncing "the hypocrisy displayed by the Zieglers" while demanding an apology and Ziegler's resignation from the School Board.

"While most of us don’t care what consenting adults do in the privacy of their home, the disingenuousness of the Zieglers is deafening as they have spent years casting aspersions on the LGBTQ+ community ..." the statement read. "... How many people, particularly young people, have suffered from Mrs. Ziegler’s blatant insistence on spearheading the culture wars, her bigotry, and homophobia?"

The organization's statement makes mention of the "Don't Say Gay" legislation signed by DeSantis and promoted by Bridge Ziegler, claiming that she was focused on culture war issues rather than student achievement.

"The Sarasota community needs to start the healing process and we cannot do that while Mrs. Zeigler continues to hold court on the board," the statement read.

Some Sarasota conservatives who worked to get Ziegler re-elected in 2022 have also soured on the former board chairwoman. The Sarasota County School District Transparency Page, an anonymous, conservative Facebook page that helped campaign to flip Sarasota's School Board to a conservative majority, posted late Tuesday evening a call for Ziegler's resignation.

The post said Ziegler needs to step down to focus on her well-being and that of her children.

"She must know that every School Board Meeting will be dominated by leftist screechers attacking her," the post read. "Don't do this to the School District, don't do this to yourself and don't do this to your children."

Alexis Spiegelman, the former chair of the Sarasota County chapter of Moms for Liberty, floated the idea of Ziegler resigning on one of the Transparency Page's Facebook posts.

"If we are making decisions based on principle, we should all be calling for Bridget Ziegler to resign," Spiegelman wrote. "She's a phony and she doesn't walk the walk."

Criticism that the Zieglers were hypocritical intensified after details emerged in police documents of Bridget Ziegler's sexual involvement with the woman who has alleged she was assaulted by Christian Ziegler in October.

The alleged victim and Bridget Ziegler told police they had a three-way sexual encounter more than a year ago that included the two women and Christian Ziegler, according to police documents. The three had planned another such encounter on Oct. 2, but Ziegler didn't attend. Christian Ziegler went to the alleged victim's apartment anyway, which is when the alleged sexual assault occurred, the documents show.

Bridget Ziegler has also been outspoken on transgender issues, including through a social media post in which she's pictured wearing a shirt reading "Real women aren't men" referencing transgender women.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Bridget Ziegler facing mounting pressure to resign amid scandal