"The entertainment is at the expense of our children"

There's a growing number of couch potato meeting attendees out there. The Morrisville borough council broadcasts their meetings live. We also know that they tend to be snooze-fests that even some of the council members sleep through. The school board rebroadcasts recent meetings over a two week span, but not live. Let's hear from the living room crowd: Do you watch the meetings on TV rather than making the trip out to the LGI?

Here's an article about the Miami-Dade school board, which broadcasts their rather animated meetings live to a fairly devoted following. Imagine the mellifluous tones of longtime NBC announcer Don Pardo announcing..."It's Wednesday Night LIVE!" as he introduces our distinguished panel, guest host, and musical guest. (Perhaps singing the new hit single, "It's the end of the school as we know it"...?)

School drama: Board meeting spats lure viewers
The Miami-Dade School Board's monthly meetings are drawing a growing audience of fans who are watching the spectacle at home on TV.

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

School drama: Board meeting spats lure viewers
The Miami-Dade School Board's monthly meetings are drawing a growing audience of fans who are watching the spectacle at home on TV.
Posted on Sun, Aug. 03, 2008

Forget CSI: Miami or Burn Notice.

The hottest television show set in Miami may just be the monthly Miami-Dade County School Board meetings.

Drama. Rivalries. Insults.

It's reality television, brought to you by the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County. And the viewing public can't seem to get enough.

Consider: The number of people tuning in to the School Board meetings has doubled since February, skyrocketing to as many as 28,500 at any given hour, district officials say.

"The meetings are like a train wreck," said Mario Artecona, executive director of the Miami Business Forum and a regular viewer. "You know it's going to be a mess, but you can't look away."

Teacher Seth Patterson said he and his wife, Katie, have been watching, too.

"It's been a circus," he said.

The School Board has, in fact, been broadcasting its regular meetings on WLRN-PBS 17 since the early 1970s.

Over the years, the meetings have spurred a cult-like following of teachers, parents and others among cable viewers who refuse to reach for the remote.

The audience has been growing.

As many as 19,000 households tune in to the meetings during any given hour of the broadcast, district spokesman John Schuster said.

That number isn't quite as high as the number of children who watch Curious George every morning, Schuster said, but it still represents a spike.

Why so many viewers?

For one, the drama is intense and the stakes are high.

CALL FOR OUSTER

At least three board members are calling for Superintendent Rudy Crew's ouster.

Teachers are battling the district for their raises.

And district officials have cut thousands of jobs in the wake of a budget crisis.

What's more, the board is rife with rivalries.

Board Chairman Agustín Barrera and board member Ana Rivas Logan have sparred over Roberts Rules of Order.

And, of course, there is the constant exchange of insults.

Board members Renier Diaz de la Portilla and Solomon Stinson have had an especially strained relationship.

They recently had a spat over Diaz de la Portilla's proposal to change the district's nepotism rules.

A WALKOUT

In another meeting, this one not televised, Stinson adjourned it and walked out, leaving Diaz de la Portilla reading a memo about firing Crew.

And at each of the last few meetings, more than 100 people have addressed the board.

Children have played instruments and danced. One schools police officer sang. Some of the public speakers have been escorted away from the podium by security guards.

Charlotte Greenbarg, a local activist, said she first got hooked on the School Board meetings more than two decades ago.

She hasn't kicked the habit.

''You can't turn away from it,'' said Greenbarg, who watches the meetings on a 50-inch television screen.

"It's such high drama. And it's live."

TUNED-IN TEACHERS

Not surprisingly, teachers are among the most loyal viewers.

Paul Lobeck, a teacher at Miami Southridge Senior High, said he made it a point to watch last week's budget hearing on TV.

But a few minutes later, a thunderstorm rolled in, knocking out Lobeck's satellite.

"I was furious," he recalled.

"I started calling everyone, trying to find out what was going on."

Lobeck isn't alone. Several of his students have even gotten hooked on the meetings, he said.

"It makes for good television," Lobeck said. "It's almost surreal."

COMEDY OR TRAGEDY?

Others say the public spectacle does little to promote confidence in the School Board.

Former Surfside Mayor Paul Novack said he's been staying up late to see how the meetings end.

"Some people find it entertaining because it's comical," Novack said.

"But others find it tragic. What kind of example are we setting for our children?"

Justin Koren, a teacher at Southwood Middle, likened the meetings to "a soap opera on steroids."

"It can be addicting to watch scandal after scandal for 12 continuous hours without commercials,'' Koren said.

"That is, until you realize the entertainment is at the expense of our children."