A series of box trucks started driving around town this week with a picture of Bridget Ziegler across the side and the words “Stop the School Board Scandal.” The trucks debuted outside a School Board meeting this week as part of a campaign called the School Sanity Project. 

That group intends to continue challenging the personal integrity of arguably the area’s most famous school board member, before and after a scandal last year turned her and husband Christian Ziegler from power players to punchlines.

About four months into some a police investigation and some tawdry revelations, organizers for the campaign say they are just getting started. They plan to tie Ziegler’s notorious insincerity into a problem for a social conservative majority barely a year into its reign.

"We're fighting back against extremist school board members like Bridget Ziegler, who has turned the Sarasota School Board into a circus with her blatant hypocrisy and bad-faith policymaking," said Senior Advisor to the Project, Samantha Pollara. "This billboard is only the beginning of our campaign and our battle against extremists in education. Enough is enough. It's time to bring sanity back to our schools." 

It seems only fair at some point here to note Ziegler’s personal scandal doesn’t actually have anything to do with her work on the School Board, other than serving as an extraordinary juxtaposition to the moralizing policies she has helped advance. Her husband, importantly, is the only one facing any legal threat from the matter.

I won’t get into too many details in a morning newsletter. It’s an embarrassing mess, no three ways about it. 

Still, it didn’t directly involve curriculum or public spending or Black history or whether transgender people are imagining things. All those matters, indeed, have come up during her time at the dais, and many a constituent probably finds her positions equally embarrassing and outrageous. But Ziegler over three elections — two of which she won with less than 51% of the vote but more recently one she took by a landslide — had electoral mandates to back up those policies.

It seems highly unlikely she could win another term today, though in three years who knows. But the real test of the political campaign’s success won’t be the next time Ziegler faces an electorate, should that ever happen, but when he political allies stand for re-election. School Board chair Karen Rose appears on a ballot again this year. So does School Board member Tom Edwards, a long-time adversary of Ziegler’s. The clear dream scenario for School Sanity Project and many other who fought the Ziegler agenda for years would be to re-elect Edwards and drive Rose out in a rout.

No other member of the School Board had any role in Ziegler’s personal picadilloes. But they certainly helped in actions like driving a superintendent out of town with no cause whatsoever. Honestly, the push for change would have come this year regardless of the national headlines surrounding the conservative leader.

That’s why a refusal to resign her office has so upset allies and enemies alike. Truthfully, it seems increasingly likely her political foes secretly hope Ziegler never leaves the scene now. It’s anyone’s guess if she how she recovers personally or politically from the firestorm of the last few months. But the longer she stays at the dais, drawing hours of public condemnation at every hearing, the more likely it becomes that those who shared a political bed will be the ones who pay a price.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA. 

Photo courtesy the School Sanity Project.

At Ringling College of Art and Design, we strive to position our students for success—professionally and financially as well as personally and emotionally. We have spent decades shattering the myth of the “starving artist” and aligning our students on a path that leads them to turn their passions into professions.

I have long been an advocate for implementing STEAM within our educational systems. This adds the “A” for the Arts, alongside Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Art classes are the only classes where students are permitted and encouraged to be creative. It is within these classes where creativity and innovation flourish; where there are many different solutions to a problem, not just one; and where failure is normalized and an inherent part of the learning process. 

Some people may not think it’s possible to fail in the creative realm because the outcomes are not as black and white. In the art world, we hear the cliché, “There is no right answer.” But art can fail, too. It can be unclear, disengaging, misleading, plagiarized or simply reveal an artist who was momentarily unable—or unwilling—to engage with their process, their audience or themselves.

But here is the simple truth: embracing failure as part of the practice/process/journey is vital to our students’ experiences and successes. In fact, failure is vital to all of us; it’s a fundamental part of the human experience. In an environment centered on creativity, innovation and independent thought as well as open collaboration, Ringling College’s mission must include accepting, normalizing and even celebrating failures, both large and small.

Rather than chastising or ostracizing failure, a healthy academic environment, especially one so focused on the creative process, should have failure built into it. Artistic creations are open to feedback and critique from faculty as well as peers, giving way to revisions or even starting over from scratch. Our first ideas and earliest attempts will rarely be our best. For most people, we won’t know what a flawed effort looks or feels like until we actually go through with it. We have to TRY in order to learn and grow. And trying, by its nature, doesn’t guarantee success.

Unfortunately, a nonstop, win-first mentality means failure can be paralyzing. Especially these days in the competitive landscape of higher education and with the limitless reach of social media, too many young people turn away from their passions before they even have a chance to begin. Unlike adults who had more time to adjust their perspectives, many high school and college-aged students will experience failure, internalize it and maybe expect it to be permanent. Or they deny their failures outright and become defensive and unwilling to embark upon other avenues. 

These attitudes are debilitating—not just for individual goals but for whole communities that would ultimately benefit from new viewpoints and fearless experimentation. A fear of failure stops progress in its tracks. And progress is nothing without creativity. The need for immediate success leads to mediocrity. If we’re only looking for what merely works, we will accept the old, outdated and unoriginal. But if we expand into realms where failure is possible—or even likely and dare I say, encouraged—we open up the potential for new modes of success. At the very least, we walk away from failure with a broader, better understanding of our circumstances and ourselves. 

As a society and as educators, how can we normalize failure? By allowing it, sharing in it as a community and talking openly about our own failures—past and current. Let’s revel in the things that don’t work. Let’s celebrate starting over. Let’s recognize that humans are messy, often-failing creatures. Let’s meet all of our challenges with enthusiasm and grace. 

Ringling College will continue to produce graduates at the forefront of creativity and innovation, embracing failure as part of the creative process, rather than hiding it or running from it. And regardless of our graduates’ career choices, we believe our students will be in the best possible position to be happy, healthy, resilient and successful going forward, in part because of their failures along the way. 

Dr. Larry R. Thompson is president of Ringling College of Art and Design. 

Photo courtesy Ringling College.

One of the greatest attributes of the citizens of Sarasota and Manatee Counties is their generosity and commitment to quality education. This is good for the community, the educators and the students. 

There are many reasons a strong educational system is good for the community, but it is also a necessity for strong economic development. We need an educated and trained workforce for economic development.

As in the past, citizens this November will be asked to vote on a referendum to extend an optional local property tax for the School Districts in both Manatee and Sarasota Counties. This referendum has historically passed by a wide margin showing commitment to quality education in the region. Let’s work to make sure they pass once again. I focus on both of these referendums not only because as a trade association GCBX represents members in both counties, but also because we are one metropolitical statistical area (MSA) and one region. We must realize that and focus on a thriving, robust and sustainable region.

An educated and well-trained workforce is critical to the local economy. Currently, labor shortages compounded by supply chain issues are having a huge impact on the local commercial contracting industry.

Plenty of jobs are available in the trades and as project managers and superintendents with General Contracting firms. Training and employment in the trades offers a route to financial security and the American Dream.  

I’m reminded of the story of a young man who was laid off during the pandemic. He applied to CareerEdge Funders Collaborative (part of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce) to participate in the HVAC Express Program offered at Sarasota Technical College. Throughout his three-month training, he was mentored by veterans in the field. He developed interview and professional skills for employment and upon graduation was immediately offered a job. in nine months from when he first stepped foot in the training program, he worked his way to $25 per hour with time-and-a-half for overtime and double time when on call. His self-confidence and pride have gone through the roof. He and his wife (both working) have been able to purchase a small starter home. He is making his American Dream a reality.

This type of story isn’t just important for the Construction Industry, it’s important for the community.  We need more stories like this in the community. Locally, both the Manatee and Sarasota County School Boards understand the importance of workforce training. The Construction Technology Program at Riverview is in its second year and is hugely successful. Similar programs have also started in other high schools. It's important that we support the Technical Colleges and high schools that offer these programs and training and have a track record of success.  

At GCBX, we will be sponsoring our 7th Annual Construction Career Rodeo to offer juniors and seniors from Manatee and Sarasota Counties an opportunity to explore the many career paths they can embark on right out of High School. Each year, many of these students walk away with internship and apprenticeship opportunities that result in high wage careers right here at home.

These programs change lives. These programs help build communities and support economic development. Let’s hope we can continue to support our local schools by supporting the referendum in November and by supporting the successful programs that exist in the region for this type of training. 

Mary Dougherty is executive director of the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange. 

Photo courtesy Pixabay. By Hermann Traub.