The about-face comes amid privatization and a new Florida law that makes the future of low-enrollment schools uncertain.
By Dania Hefley
Original Air Date: October 8, 2025
Host: It looks like an at least temporary victory for parents organizing to keep their neighborhood school open. Just a couple weeks ago, the superintendent presented to the Sarasota School Board a plan to shut down Wilkinson Elementary, which would make it the district’s first public school ever to close. At issue is underenrollment and a new Florida law which could turn school buildings into takeover targets by private charters. Dania Hefley reports about a school board workshop yesterday that saw an about-face by the superintendent.
Terry Connor
Terry Connor: I do believe there’s an opportunity here for Wilkinson to be reimagined and not necessarily closed. The other part of this repurposing is to continue to function as a school.
Dania Hefley: That’s Terry Connor, presenting a plan outlining possible next steps for the school’s future. The superintendent’s plan for Wilkinson involves repurposing the facility and creating a new school. Connor detailed the district’s underutilization issue, explaining how over 5,600 seats are empty across 10 schools. Connor cited the Schools of Hope law that allows charter operators to use underutilized facilities rent-free as a reason for the urgency to address the issue.
Wilkinson Elementary
Terry Connor: The bottom line is that, when you have fewer students, you have less funding, but you don’t necessarily have less facilities. You have to weigh that cost out and make sure that we’re being responsible with our decision-making regarding that. What I would say is more of an urgency in this whole dynamic because the underutilization and fiscal responsibility have been long-term things that the district has been burdened with.
Now, with legislation that has come along in just the last couple of months, it really does spark a conversation and bring some urgency to the conversation and decision-making because we want to protect and maintain local control of our facilities to the best of our ability.
DH: The new school would be a STEM Honors Micro Academy, a magnet program open to all county students.
TC: When we look at this survey of our parents, there are three things that they want more than anything. They love STEAM, they love acceleration, and they love small. The idea here is creating a dedicated magnet program at Wilkinson that has three of those things.
STEM Honors Micro Academy. This would be a county-wide dedicated magnet that students could apply to. It fits a very specific need—those who are STEM-oriented, those who are accelerated—and it gives them that small, personalized environment.
DH: The plan received support from all five board members, including Bidget Ziegler, who found it “very exciting,” and Tom Edwards, who called it a “win.”
Graphic from Marinelli’s 2022 campaign
Tom Edwards: Giving those families the opportunity to choice back in in an accelerated program. I think that’s a win.
DH: Karen Rose also praised the plan, calling it “phenomenal.”
Robyn Marinelli acknowledged the difficulty of the change but called it “the best choice in a difficult situation.”
Robyn Marinelli: Is it one of those choices that you really like? But is it the best choice in a difficult situation? And we’re involving the parents and trying to give them—your staff is working with whatever school they choose. And then if they choice into the new STEM, I think it’s the best that we can offer.
DH: Liz Barker expressed gratitude for the superintendent’s focus on community input.
The Wilkinson plan is part of a multi-phase effort to rebalance student enrollment throughout the district. The superintendent will schedule a public meeting for the Wilkinson community before the board takes action on any recommendations.
In addition to the Wilkinson Elementary plan, the workshop also touched on several other contentious issues. The board discussed a proposed policy that would allow for an invocation or prayer at the start of meetings. Board members Bridget Ziegler and Karen Rose supported the policy, while Liz Barker and Tom Edwards favored a moment of silence as a more inclusive alternative. The board also discussed a resolution to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. Bridget Ziegler’s version, which she said was based on the nation’s founding principles, was selected over a second version by Liz Barker, which aimed for a more inclusive and diverse representation of the country. Finally, a heated discussion arose from a recent change in meeting times to 10 a.m. This prompted Edwards to propose holding his own public comment session in the board chambers to accommodate working community members, which was met with accusations from other members of overstepping his authority and creating potential legal issues.
Reporting for WSLR News, Dania Hefley.
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