Sarasota County School Board votes to begin negotiations for superintendent’s resignation

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - The Sarasota County School Board voted 4-1 Tuesday evening in favor of beginning negotiations with Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen for his resignation. Tom Edwards was the sole school board member supporting Asplen.

A large crowd of parents, students, teachers and residents attended the special meeting.

“There are a lot of questions, as someone who champions transparency. This is a great opportunity to respectfully just lay it all on the table,” said Bridget Ziegler, eh new chair of the school board. “I think it’s a great opportunity, you don’t see that very often. I think we need to do that. I think we need to talk about where the strengths are, where there’s opportunity for improvement.”

“I supported him as I was one of the ones who chose him, I gave him a highly effective rating on two different evaluations,” said Jane Goodwin, the former chair. “I was completely happy and confident in his leadership.”

The school board heard plenty of public comment, from many who support the superintendent. Others were in attendance who wanted to see the superintendent fired.

Last week the new school board, which is now a conservative majority, voted in favor of looking into possibly firing the superintendent lead by board member Karen Rose. That lead to Tuesday night’s meeting. Rose and other school board members say the issues include the overall school ranking and how the superintendent handled the mask mandate. The superintendent speaking very passionately and proudly at the meeting about the job he’s done.

Supporters of Dr. Asplen say he has done a phenomenal job and what this new school board is doing is very wrong.

“This is nothing more than politics, and controlling or allowing those people to control the school board,” said Goodwin.