Sarasota school board approves non-binding resolution asking Bridget Ziegler to resign

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Sarasota County School Board approved a resolution 4-1 that asked board member Bridget Ziegler to voluntarily resign at Tuesday evening’s meeting.

Ziegler voted against the resolution.

The calls for resignation come after Ziegler’s husband, Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler, was accused of sexual assault. Christian Ziegler has maintained he is innocent and believes he will be exonerated once the investigation is complete.

According to a search warrant for Ziegler’s telephone, police said the investigation revealed the victim and Ziegler have known each other for 20 years and they agreed to have a sexual encounter that included Ziegler’s wife, Bridget.

The victim claimed that on Oct. 2, Christian Ziegler sexually assaulted her, according to the search warrant.

Bridget Ziegler was elected to the school board representing District 1 for a four year term that began in November 2022.

The resolution said details from the law enforcement investigation “would cause an irreparably harmful distraction” to the school board’s ability to operate and supervise the county’s schools.

“It is not legally binding,” Chair Karen Rose said before making the motion to adopt the resolution. “It is me as the chair of this board holding myself accountable to our students in this community in instruction and learning.”

Board Member Robyn Marinelli seconded the motion to adopt the resolution.

Ziegler said she was “disappointed” prior to the vote on the resolution.

“As people may know, I serve on another public board and this issue did not come up and we were able to forge ahead with the business of the board,” Ziegler said.

She pointed out that the school board had brought forward about six resolutions within the last five years.

“And many of which were of a political nature,” Ziegler said. “And I bring that up because that was the intent to remove that and not proceed forward.”

Ziegler also confirmed with the district’s attorney that the resolution does not have any “teeth.”

“This board has no ability to remove one of the other members,” Patrick Duggan said in response.

School Board Member Tom Edwards said he felt “uncomfortable” with how the resolution was currently written.

“I am not interested in all of the drama around Mrs. Ziegler and that sentence referring to occurrences with Mrs. Ziegler was a little too personal from my perspective,” Edwards said.

The resolution referenced “recent occurrences that involve Bridget Ziegler that have become public as result of a law enforcement investigation.”

Edwards proposed a changes to the resolution.

“I was making a recommendation, which I think the other board members got, to sort of broaden that to ‘the details’ that are from the investigation,” he explained.

He also asked for the board to vote after hearing public comment because there are “two sides to this story.” However, the board decided to vote on the resolution before public comment.

Following the vote, Edwards said the investigation has kept the board “drama focused” instead of “student centric focused.”

For nearly three hours during public comment, people addressed Ziegler directly, either asking to resign or telling the board member to stand her ground.