Sleepy Dade School Board voting at 3 a.m. (from Miami Hearld)

EDUCATION
Sleepy Dade School Board voting at 3 a.m.
All-night meetings are becoming the norm for the School Board as it tackles budget shortfalls, but experts say 3 a.m. is no time to be voting.
BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com
Miami-Dade School Board member Ana Rivas Logan rubbed her eyes and yawned. Vice Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman stood up to stretch her legs. Others on the dais were bleary-eyed.
It was nearing midnight and only about a dozen die-hard spectators remained seated in the once-crowded School Board Administrative Building auditorium. One man was snoring.
Last Tuesday's meeting finally ended around 12:30 a.m. -- more than 14 hours after the board first convened at a 10 a.m. pre-meeting workshop.
As far as the last few assemblages went, it was a relatively early finish:
The previous month's meeting had lasted until 3:30 a.m. The one before that until just after 3 a.m.
''I couldn't even read my own notes,'' board member Marta Pérez said, two days after the July meeting. ``My eyes were shutting.''
With scores of budget issues to hash out, the past few gatherings of the Miami-Dade School Board have become all-night affairs.
In Broward County, where School Board meetings start at 10 a.m. instead of 1 p.m., sessions have also run long, lasting until 7:30 p.m. on several occasions in recent months.
While the meetings may be critical for a school system, doctors say the marathon meetings are not ideal venues for decision making.
''If you're not rested, you are not going to be able to make the same kind of careful and thoughtful decisions that you would make if you were fully awake,'' said Roberto Sassi, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
''You are much more likely to make mistakes,'' he added.
One board member agrees: ''By the time it gets to the end of the night, the important questions are not being asked,'' said board member Ana Rivas Logan. ``The debate is not as on-cue as it should be because everyone is tired.''
In years past, it was not uncommon for Miami-Dade School Board meetings to run until 10 p.m., spokesman John Schuster said.
But back-to-back 3 a.m. finishes?
''These past few meetings have definitely been some of the latest,'' Schuster said.
The district's budget woes are partly to blame in Miami-Dade.
For months, the board has struggled to balance its $5.5 billion budget, which is due to the state Department of Education by September.
Meetings have been made up of intense -- and often lengthy -- debates over what to cut and what to save. And as Superintendent Rudy Crew has turned to layoffs, hundreds of employees have appeared to speak before the board, pleading for their jobs.
Adding to the tension, the board has been sharply divided between those who support Crew and those who don't. And with four members seeking reelection in August, small disagreements have evolved into high-stakes battles.
''There's a clear dividing line right now and that's the superintendent,'' said Brian Peterson, a Florida International University professor who edits a daily newsletter called the Miami Education Review.
''Board members can't agree to be sensible,'' Peterson said.
The extra long meetings haven't been unique to Miami-Dade.
Throughout Florida, school boards have been burning the midnight oil to balance their budgets, said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.
NOT SURPRISED
While Blanton hadn't heard of any meetings lasting quite as long as those in Miami-Dade County, he wasn't surprised.
''It's only natural that the meetings are going to be longer in Dade because the budget is so large,'' Blanton said. ``It's going to take a lot of delving into the budget to make the proper cuts.''
Linda Embrey, a spokeswoman for the National School Boards Association, said budget discussions have been sending school board meetings into extra innings nationwide. ''These very late meetings are definitely not the norm,'' she said.
Experts, however, say making big budget decisions after 14 hours of meeting is far from ideal.
For one, the time of night presents a problem, said Sassi, the University of Miami psychiatrist.
''Most of the School Board members are not night-shift workers,'' Sassi said. ``So 3 a.m. is a time at which most of them would be sleeping. Their bodies are not prepared to make big decisions then.''
Some people are more resilient than others, Sassi said. And some can stay alert by drinking coffee or taking afternoon naps.
''But the truth is, people are more likely to be impulsive and less likely to be thorough after they've been awake that long,'' he said.
It's a bad idea from a public administration standpoint, too, said Michael Milakovich, a professor of political science at UM.
''People can't be that sharp after being locked in a room for 12 hours,'' he said.
The long meetings have caused some unrest on the board. For the past three months, board members haven't had a chance to propose their own items until the early hours of the morning.
SUGGESTION DIES
Last month, board member Pérez suggested that actions proposed by board members be brought to the floor earlier. The item failed in a close vote.
''It's very frustrating,'' Pérez said. ``You prepare to present those items, but by that time, you know your colleagues are exhausted. The public is exhausted, too. And ultimately, what happens is those items get swept under the rug.''
An earlier start is not necessarily a solution. In Broward, that's a source of controversy as some board members say some members of the public can't attend the hearings.
In Miami-Dade, many wishing to speak sign up but by the time their name is called, they're home asleep.
With the budget crisis unresolved, observers don't expect the lengthy meetings in Miami-Dade to end anytime soon.
Said Sassi: ``If they could plan and spread out the meetings, that would make more sense.''
If that isn't possible, those trapped must consider power naps, fresh air and coffee, but he warns: ``There's only so much the brain can do for us.''
Miami Herald staff writer Nirvi Shah contributed to this report.