Three open seats could change the direction of Sarasota County Schools

Sarasota County voters are set to cast their ballots in an election that will reshape the school board after years of tumultuous meetings over issues like mask mandates, inclusion policies and even national topics like immigration. During that period, the board’s conservative majority frequently voted together on many of the highest-profile issues.

None of the board’s three conservative incumbents will appear on the ballot.

The election comes as Sarasota County Schools navigates falling enrollment, stagnant state funding and the expiration of $115 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding. As the district prepares for the upcoming school year, it plans to eliminate 180 instructional positions and 79 classified jobs, while district officials estimate Florida’s school voucher program reduced district revenue by another $45 million this year alone.

This is the challenging fiscal environment that three of the seven candidates will step into when they fill the seats for Districts 1, 4 and 5 now held by conservatives Bridget Ziegler, Karen Rose and Robyn Marinelli.

During the Aug. 18 election, voters are not limited to the district they live in, and can vote for candidates in all three races.

Although school board races are officially nonpartisan, the campaigns have drawn endorsements from Democratic and Republican elected officials, as well as the local political parties.

Despite their political differences, candidates shared some areas of agreement during interviews with Suncoast Searchlight. Many identified the district’s financial challenges, declining enrollment and student achievement — particularly early literacy — as priorities, although they often proposed different solutions. Many also said they hoped to reduce polarization and restore greater trust in the school district.

Among the most notable findings: Michelle Pozzie appeared to falsely claim she had served as executive director of a Sarasota Family YMCA branch at a public candidate forum; Republican-endorsed Heidi Brandt broke with the current board majority by saying she would have opposed its resolutions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and student protests; and entrepreneur Frank DiCicco said he would move into District 4 if elected because he currently lives outside the district. 

All but two of the candidates, Pozzie and Teresa DeWitt, agreed to speak with Suncoast Searchlight about their experience and reasons for running. 

District 1 draws crowded field

Three candidates — Brandt, DeWitt and Jimmy Glover — are running to represent Sarasota County’s coastal, north county district. 

In District 1, Brandt was endorsed by the Republican Party of Sarasota County, state Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, and state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota. Brandt is the mother of an elementary student and president of the parent-teacher organization at Southside Elementary. She cited literacy as a top issue and said she would seek to expand programs like Southside’s “Reading Partners,” which pairs young students with volunteer mentors.

“That would be one thing that I think we could do right off the bat with little funding, and it might start with 10 kids in the school … and it could grow,” she said.

Brandt said she supports the use of vouchers but believes Florida’s system is “broken” and said she would support reforms like implementing a “sliding scale” for families seeking public dollars to attend private schools, rather than giving out the full scholarship regardless of income.

Although she is active in Republican politics, Brandt said she disagrees with some of the votes this year by the majority-conservative board, pointing to its resolution reaffirming the district’s willingness to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and another measure seeking to penalize student protesters who stage walkouts. She said she worried that the rule could be unevenly or unfairly applied.

“I reached out to multiple people and asked questions,” said Brandt, referring to the ICE resolution. “‘Why is this necessary? Will it change anything? And the resounding answer was ‘no, it’s pointless.’ So, no, I wouldn’t have voted for that. Absolutely not. I think it just drew up a lot of fear, and it wasn’t necessary.” 

Brandt has raised more than $66,000.

DeWitt, who has been endorsed by Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube and Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, is a therapist. According to her website, she has participated in local Moms for Liberty activism, a group that has focused on removing mentions of LGBTQ+ issues and racism from school curricula. She also makes reference on her website to her past work with Leadership Institute — a national organization that recruits and trains conservative activists for roles in politics.

DeWitt did not respond to requests for an interview with Suncoast Searchlight, but she participated in a candidate forum organized by Suncoast Searchlight and the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County, and she completed a questionnaire as part of the Florida Election Reporting Partnership, a statewide, nonpartisan election reporting collaborative of universities and news organizations, including Suncoast Searchlight.  

In the survey, DeWitt wrote that literacy, financial stability and stagnant enrollment in the schools were her top priorities. She wrote that the district should “televise all financial and audit committee meetings” and suggested it adopt a marketing plan to attract students and families. She also wrote that the district should add security cameras on campuses and expand volunteer programming for parents to assist amid teacher shortages.

In total, she has raised just over $19,000.

Glover is the only registered Democrat running to represent District 1 — and the only African American candidate running across the county. Glover raised his children in the Sarasota County public school system and chairs the board of Star Lab, a private Montessori-style school serving children in Kindergarten through third grade. Glover said he is focused on college and career readiness and that he would work to expand mentorship opportunities for students if elected. 

“A lot of kids in underserved communities don’t have access to a mentor who can guide and direct them through the process … once they get into the work environment, or even the college level,” Glover said. “Because, as we all know, a lot of times it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” 

Glover said he believes the school district should lobby Tallahassee lawmakers to put income restrictions back on the school voucher program, saying that although he believes vouchers “can coexist” with public education, he is concerned about the trend of “families who already had their kids in private school and had no intention of ever sending their kids to public school now utiliz[ing] the voucher as a subsidy.” 

Glover has raised more than any other candidate in the field, bringing in more than $118,000 so far.

The Democratic Party of Sarasota County, Equality Florida and current board members Tom Edwards and Liz Barker endorsed Glover. 

A former teacher and entrepreneur compete in District 4 race

In District 4, which spans northeast Sarasota County, DiCicco, an entrepreneur, insurance agency owner and father of two Sarasota public school children, who made a 2016 run for the county commission, will face Megan Tennimon, a mother of three children in the district who worked as an elementary school teacher.

During a wide-ranging interview, DiCicco offered his ideas about reforming the school board and district spending. He said he asked a friend who “[ran] a $100 million company” to review the district’s budget, where, he said, the friend “found a lot of bloat.” DiCicco called for the district to publish a more detailed budget to identify areas to cut. 

He also proposed the district purchase bulk school supplies wholesale for students, estimating the cost at about $1.5 million, arguing the approach would result in savings for families.

DiCicco said that when he learned Marinelli was not seeking re-election he decided to make a run himself, and said his past experience as a court mediator would position him to negotiate difficult conversations on the board.

“You can’t just have all teachers, or all this or all that [on the school board],” said DiCicco. “You’ve got to have people who bring expertise, and then when you have five people that bring different expertises, not only are they all part of it, but you can come to a meeting of the minds, that’s how you bring people together.”

He said he disagrees with the Schools of Hope law, which went into effect last year and allows charter schools to co-locate in public schools, while public schools pay for their associated costs like lunches, busing and facilities management. 

DiCicco does not live in District 4, but said he would move to the district — as required — if elected, explaining that he is renting outside the district temporarily due to a divorce. He has been endorsed by Sheriff Hoffman and the Republican Party of Sarasota County and has raised more than $18,000.

Megan Tennimon, a former teacher who is facing DiCicco in the August election, has campaigned on a platform of academic achievement, supporting teachers and school district transparency. During her campaign, Tennimon has touted her experience as a PTO president, classroom volunteer and close observer of the school board. 

Tennimon said she got involved with Support Our Schools, a progressive group focused on public education, after the board voted to change its public meeting time to the morning (it has since changed the meeting times back). When Support Our Schools encouraged her to run for a seat on the board, Tennimon said she was initially reluctant. 

“But as I talked with my family, and I talked with my friends and a lot of the teachers that I’m very close with, I realized that I do have a unique background,” Tennimon said, “because I can see both sides of the deck, if you will, as a parent and a teacher.”

Tennimon attributed the district’s financial struggles largely to the voucher program and said while she supports families taking vouchers — for example, to send a child to a school tailored to their behavioral needs — the program requires reform. 

“What I, and many advocates for voucher reform, want is the income cap to be put back on the voucher system,” Tennimon said. Tennimon argued that the school board should lobby in conjunction with other districts around the state by rejoining the Florida Association of School Boards.

She has raised more than $51,500 and touts endorsements from school board member Barker, EduVoter, the Suncoast NEA Retired Teachers, and the School Safety Advocacy Council.

District 5 race draws retired teacher and conservative activist

Beth Mayberry — who is running in District 5 — is also a former teacher. She retired in 2025 after more than 13 years teaching math and science in the district, and her three children attended Sarasota public schools. 

Mayberry said she views chronic underfunding as a top issue. 

“I have grandkids who are going to our schools now, and I just am dismayed at the fact that we are asking so much of our teachers, and we are cutting different things because we’re not getting enough money from Tallahassee,” Mayberry said. “I also was very dismayed to see how much time the school board majority was wasting on things that weren’t important to our classrooms.” 

Mayberry gave the board’s resolution on ICE as an example — describing it as both damaging and distracting. 

“Procedure-wise, it didn’t change anything,” Mayberry said. “It made so many kids even more anxious.”

She also said that in an effort to attract families to the district and retain those already enrolled, she would seek to “shore up our arts programs.” She warned against cutting or reducing “those very classes that help our children come to school, that give them some joy” and emphasized the importance of having teachers teach within their specialization. On the campaign trail, Mayberry has pointed to the voucher program as a source of financial pressure on the district and told Suncoast Searchlight that Sarasota County Schools should lobby hard in Tallahassee for reform.

She has raised more than $71,600 and has been endorsed by school board members Barker and Edwards, Florida Veterans for Common Sense and Sarasota County Democratic Party.

Mayberry is running against Pozzie, a conservative firebrand who has spoken at school board meetings for years and who, according to her campaign website, is co-founder and host of Open Mic on Patriot TV, the co-founder and anchor of Coastal Conservative News and the director of the Sarasota County Turning Point USA Headquarters Chapter.

During the Suncoast Searchlight and League of Women Voters panel, Pozzie said the district’s handling of student behavioral issues has been a top concern among voters and also cited literacy rates as an issue of focus. 

Pozzie diverged from her opponents in her approach to the voucher program, recommending during that panel that the district “handle … the voucher system the way you would handle it if you had a business that had people that were competing for your consumers.” Rather than reforming the voucher system, she advocated for the school district to promote its offerings to the community more assertively.

During her campaign, Pozzie has revived discussions of COVID-19 public health mandates, a flashpoint during the pandemic.

She drew outrage this year after comparing students who did not wear masks during the pandemic to Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis in the 1940s.  

During a candidate forum hosted by Suncoast Searchlight and the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County, Pozzie claimed to have served as “the executive director of the Sarasota County YMCA Frank G. Berlin branch,” where she “oversaw a multi-million dollar budget.” But when a reporter reached out afterward to confirm details about her role, she seemed to backtrack, saying that she was a “director” there and that the word “executive” was on her office door. An archived Sarasota Family YMCA web page from 2011 lists Pozzie as “Recreational Gymnastics Director.” 

A former gymnastics coach who worked with Pozzie, and a retired executive of the Sarasota Family YMCA — both of whom declined to be named, citing concerns about retaliation — said they only recalled Pozzie working in the gymnastics program, never as executive director of any YMCA location.

A week after Suncoast Searchlight contacted Pozzie to ask about her experience at the YMCA, she posted a video on social media describing herself instead as a former “recreational director.” In the video, she said that she “managed within a multi-million dollar budget.”

Hoffman, Steube and the Republican Party of Sarasota County endorsed Pozzie. Her campaign has raised about $15,900 so far.

She did not respond to subsequent requests for an interview, or fill out a survey provided by the Florida Election Reporting Partnership.

Alice Herman is an investigative/watchdog reporter for Suncoast Searchlight. Email her at alice@suncoastsearchlight.org.

This story is part of a statewide partnership of 27 nonpartisan newsrooms and universities working to help Florida voters make informed decisions in the 2026 school board elections. Learn more about the Florida Elections Reporting Partnership at floridaelections.org (http://floridaelections.org/).