SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS DEMANDS THAT BRIDGET ZIEGLER APOLOGIZE TO THE COMMUNITY AND RESIGN FROM HER SCHOOL BOARD SEAT
On November 1, 2023, Sarasota School Board member, Leadership Institute’s Vice President of School Board Leadership Programs, and Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler admitted to police, that last year she and her husband had a three-way consensual sexual encounter with a woman. Her husband is now being investigated for the alleged sexual battery of this same woman in October of this year. Support Our Schools, a nonprofit public education advocacy organization, denounces the hypocrisy displayed by the Zieglers, particularly their sense of moral superiority cloaked in “family values.” 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.
Support Our Schools demands that Bridget Zeigler apologize to the Sarasota community for her many years of vilification of teachers and students, especially those of the LGBTQ+ community. Immediately after this apology, Zeigler must resign her school board seat to allow the community to begin the process of healing and moving forward to ensure a quality and respectful public education for all students in Sarasota schools.
How many people, particularly young people, have suffered from Mrs. Ziegler’s blatant insistence on spearheading the culture wars, her bigotry, and homophobia? How many LGBTQ+ youth throughout the nation have taken their lives because of these kinds of attacks? How many people have left their homes in Sarasota and Florida because this couple created so much hostility, that leaving was their only choice? So many of our LGBTQ+ friends, our friends of color, our Jewish, Muslim, and atheist friends, have left this state because of the campaign of misinformation and hate that the Zieglers helped to orchestrate, while actively participating in the very lifestyle they have derided.
Bridget Ziegler has served on the Sarasota School Board for nine years and has left it in far worse shape than when she was appointed by then-governor, Rick Scott, in 2014. Rather than working on improving educational outcomes for all students, Ziegler pushed culture war issues like CRT, SEL, and book censorship while targeting LGBTQ+ and BIPOC students with legislation, like the Don’t Say Gay bill, that she helped author.
She has used these policies to foster chaos, fear, and division within our community. She was instrumental in firing a well-respected superintendent and tried to sneak in a consultant, Vermilion Education, which has ties to the conservative Christian Hillsdale College. She co-founded Moms for Liberty, a group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “anti-government extremist group” and continues to serve on their advisory board. She has used our kids as stepping stones to advance her political and career aspirations. She has constantly put her well-paid career at the Leadership Institute, a far-right think tank that foments the culture war, ahead of her sworn constitutional responsibilities to the citizens of Sarasota County as a school board member.
As a starting point, the Sarasota community deserves an apology from Mrs. Ziegler—a heartfelt, compassionate apology, complete with accountability, acknowledgment, remorse, and regret. That is what our teachers, parents, community, and especially our students, deserve. The Sarasota community needs to start the healing process and we cannot do that while Mrs. Zeigler continues to hold court on the board. Following her apology, Mrs. Zeigler must resign her Sarasota school board seat.
Support Ours Schools urges the citizens of Sarasota to become involved in supporting Sarasota public schools as we move forward. Whether you voted for Mrs. Ziegler last year or not, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, No Party Affiliation, conservative or liberal, Sarasota schools need you. You are needed as a volunteer in our schools, we need you to attend school board meetings and we especially need you to vote. Vote in August 2024 for school board candidates who support public education and who want to strengthen it so that all students can achieve and thrive. Take a stand. Fight back. Our Sarasota public schools need you now more than ever.
Support Our Schools (supportourschools.com) is a non-profit organization based in Sarasota, Florida which was formed to support Sarasota public schools and ensure a quality education for all children. We educate the public and advocate on behalf of the public education system. We strongly believe in the power of public education. We believe that all children, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religion, are entitled to modern education in a safe and inclusive environment. We support our teachers, administrators, and our school board as we work together to provide the highest quality education to all children.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Bridget Ziegler proudly posted this photo on Twitter/X.