The Ann Arbor school board may be no stranger to lengthy meetings, but last night's was enough to test even the most caffeinated board member.

Due to a combination of special presentations, a loaded agenda and 45 minutes of public commentary, trustees made their way through a meeting that lasted about six-and-a-half hours. The meeting finally ended at 1:30 a.m.

It could have lasted even longer into the morning hours, but trustees moved a presentation of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District 2011-12 budget, board policy update recommendations, and a presentation on school wellness initiatives on to the agenda for a May 25 meeting.

Board president Deb Mexicotte said Wednesday’s long meeting was merely a reflection of the amount of things the board has to get through by the end of the school year.

The school board celebrated Jennifer Kleber, a teacher assistant at Carpenter Elementary School, and Jason Treece, a teacher at Huron High School, for their work during the past school year.

Scarlett Middle School was also honored by the Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce with the chamber's E3 award for the school's Portfolio Day. The award recognizes educational programs the chamber believes should be emulated in other K-12 schools.

A small group of dedicated parents stuck around until near the end of the meeting to listen to trustees and executive director of physical properties Randy Trent discuss the Haisley Elementary School parking lot — a discussion that began just after midnight Thursday.

The board’s discussion of the principal-sharing proposal was also rather lengthy, and ended with trustees voting to remove the proposal from the 2011-12 budget.

Much of the debate centered on whether it was wise to remove the proposal from the budget before knowing the full amount of revenue that would be coming into the state’s School Aid Fund.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.