Gov. Scott fills School Board vacancy

A candidate for the Sarasota County School Board District 1 seat has taken the position months before the August election.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott appointed insurance agent Bridget Ziegler to the seat vacated by Carol Todd, who resigned in April. Ziegler, who was already running in the race to replace Todd, will serve the rest of Todd’s term, which expires Nov. 11.

Scott’s appointment comes despite current School Board members pushing for the position to remain vacant until the Aug. 26 election. Several School Board members expressed a fear that appointing a candidate to fill the vacancy could offer an unfair advantage in the election.

“We’ve taken the position that we’d like to not have (a replacement),” School Board member Shirley Brown said in April.

The other candidates for the District 1 seat are Ken Marsh, former Sarasota County School District director of long-range planning, Paul Schafer, a retired St. Bonaventure University professor and Geoffrey Griswold Fisher, who formerly served on the West Hartford, Conn. school board.

Contact David Conway at [email protected].