Sarasota's Bridget Ziegler to train conservatives to run for School Board at Leadership Institute

Bridget Ziegler, speaking at a rally at Robarts Arena before this year's primary election.
Bridget Ziegler, speaking at a rally at Robarts Arena before this year's primary election.

Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler has joined the Leadership Institute, a conservative political nonprofit that trains conservatives to run for public office, as the director of School Board Programs, she announced on Twitter Friday.

Fresh off of a successful re-election bid, Ziegler enters a leadership role that she said will help train new school board members in the dynamics of how to do the job. She said her role will be helping with mostly virtual but some in-person group training. The sessions will not involve direct policy to be voted on, but rather on "core structures and operational, high-level aspects that would be applicable to all school board members in the state of Florida," she said.

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"It all just benefits the overall goal to improve the integrity of public education to make sure it's there to serve all of the stakeholders with the mission of ensuring all of our children receive the best education possible," Ziegler said.

In her tweet thread, she wrote that conservatives are often elected to school boards and then only have "left-leaning" organizations as options for training.

"That influence then leads to liberal group-think and even more dangerous, liberal group-policy (led by radical left special interest groups), which quickly spreads from one school district to all school districts. This ends now," she wrote.

Ziegler said she wasn't sure if her fellow candidates Robyn Marinelli and Tim Enos, who also won elections to the Sarasota School Board Aug. 23, would be participating in Leadership Institute trainings.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota School Board's Ziegler to train conservatives to run for office