Grading the Sarasota County School Board Meeting
The League of Women Voters Report Card is serving up a sensible review
“The capacity to learn is a gift. The ability to learn is a skill. The willingness to learn is a choice.” - Brian Herbert
While the students are making remarkable strides in the Sarasota County Public Schools, three members of the board are old dogs that refuse to learn new tricks.
The decision to repeatedly spin the pros of ‘school choice’ by board member Karen Rose, without outing the cons for the student and district as a whole, is nothing more than a used car sales pitch. There are very few who are against school choice. The voucher or school choice system in Florida is in a disastrous cyclone that can’t keep taxpayers’ money straight, and the public schools are the victim for the state’s (possibly deliberate) ineptitude.
Most people know that commendable concepts are often manipulated into another person’s ability to profit off of a good thing or used to influence people with misinformation. That’s Rose with school choice.
Board member Robyn Marinelli is squeezed into such a tight bubble that logic spoken from an advocate in the audience becomes an insult. She’ll agree with a board member that positively affects student achievement and well-being, but will still vote against it, aligning herself with buddies, Rose and Chair Bridget Ziegler.
I go back to Ziegler’s resolution agenda item to politicize the nation’s 250th birthday. Board member Liz Barker objected in the same way that performers condemned President Trump’s Freedom 250 Concert. Other than a small minority, there is no patriotic person who would take America’s Semiquincentennial and make it a force to divide a nation. Yet, this is the ilk and choice of a Ziegler.
Enter the League of Women Voters of Sarasota (LWVSRQ) who monitor the monthly meetings with an unbiased expertise in their evaluations. A team of public education experts watch the meetings and consult with one another to come up with a final report card. For the May 19, 2026 meeting, this is their final assessment.
The next school board meeting will be held Tuesday, June 16 at 10 a.m., located at 1980 Landings Blvd.
The Sarasota County Schools have an easy-to-navigate website. Visit here and don’t forget to register your child in this A-rated district.
The League of Women Voters of Sarasota County have been keeping up with the changing laws and districts and wants to help you navigate through America’s most precious freedom - the right to vote. Join and participate by visiting here.
If Karen Rose does not think she should be protecting public education, she probably should not be accepting a pay check from our public school system. It is absolutely ridiculous that she was put back on the board after Sarasota residents voted for the better candidate over her. I am looking forward to the upcoming election and I hope the pro-public school candidates takeover the seats held by Rose, Ziegler, and Marinelli.