Your Florida Daily: School board members urge Bridget Ziegler to resign, lawmakers back off from deregulating recess

ORLANDO, Fla. – Heated moments in a Sarasota County School Board meeting as parents and some students called for the removal of Bridget Ziegler, the co-founder of the group Moms for Liberty.

“Get the politics and the drama and the sexcapades out once and for all. Enough is enough,” said one parent.

Ziegler was a champion of the Parental Rights in Education law and has been a member of the school board in Sarasota County since 2014, but last night her fellow board members passed a resolution calling on her to resign.

“Bridget and Christian Ziegler have stepped on the backs of marginalized communities across Florida,” said one student. “They demonized LGBTQ people, disparaged our community and hurt our families in their quest for more power.”

Bridget’s husband, who leads the Florida Republican Party, was accused of raping a woman that the couple had been in a three-way sexual relationship with.

As of now, Christian Ziegler is not charged with any crime and says he is innocent.

Both Christian and Bridget Ziegler have refused to step down from their government positions.

Lawsuit against state law restricting some transgender treatments takes center stage at Capitol

Testimony gets underway in a Tallahassee courtroom today in a challenge to Florida’s new law banning some treatments for transgender teenagers.

The bill bans giving puberty blockers and performing gender reassignment surgeries on minors.

Several people sued claiming it violates the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their children and that denying the care will have negative results.

Testimony is set to be heard over several days before any decisions will be made.

Meantime, a South Florida school has been fined $16,500 for violating another state law when it comes to transgender youth.

The High School Athletic Association reprimanded Monarch High in Fort Lauderdale after it says a transgender girl was playing for the girls’ volleyball team.

In addition to the fine, the school’s athletic programs are under probation for a year and staff must also attend a compliance seminar.

Lawmakers back off from changing school recess regulations

Recess at elementary schools across the state is not going anywhere.

Florida lawmakers removed the language on a proposed bill which would’ve removed the daily required 20-minute break in elementary schools as long as the total weekly recess time added up to 100 minutes.

Critics of that proposal argued that unstructured play time everyday brings great benefits to students.

That proposal was part of several school deregulation bills that have passed state senate committees including extending temporary teaching certificates to address staffing shortages.

Those are expected to come up during the legislative session starting next month.

Random Florida Fact

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is home to the oldest hippopotamus in North America.

His name is Lu and he was born at the San Diego Zoo on January 26, 1960 making him 63 years old. Not only does he have the senior superlative, but Lu also appeared in TV shows in the 1960s.

About 30 years later, he was declared an honorary citizen of Florida by Gov. Lawton Chiles.

A big thanks to my colleague Bob Myers for sharing this fact.