Shift in Sarasota County School Board following Primary Election results

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - A shift in the Sarasota County School Board will now take place following Tuesday’s primary. Going from a school board that was 3-2 leaning left, to a school board that will now be 4-1 leaning right.

School board member Bridget Ziegler held on to her seat. Newcomers Tim Enos, the former Sarasota Schools police chief, and longtime educator Robin Marinelli also won seats, and now will be the newest members of the school board.

“We’re ready for a change, for the school board and they showed up made their voices heard,” said Ziegler. “It’s very clear they want to focus on education and we’re going to give them that.”

Vice Chair Tom Edwards is the lone school board member remaining now who is on the more liberal side of issues.

“I remain committed to servicing and protecting our teachers and all of our students,” said Edwards. “It remains to be seen how the new board will unify the community and govern.”

“I am overwhelmed, my heart was full from the support of the community and parents,” said Marinelli. “It was just an overwhelming feeling of joy and I can’t wait to get to work.”

The current school board members and the newest ones say the divisiveness that has plagued the school board has to go away, and they have to work together for the students.

“I’m hoping that now we’ll have some more unification on the board and some of those issues won’t be so highlighted,” said Rex Ingerick, president of the Sarasota Classified Teachers Association. “And we can really work on the business of running a school system.”

The new school board members will be sworn in sometime in the middle of November.

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