Early this morning the city's Panel for Education policy voted to close 19 under-performing schools, despite eight hours of protest by thousands of teachers, parents and staffers. The hearing—which was scheduled to take place in Staten Island, but was moved to Brooklyn Tech's high school to accommodate the mob of onlookers—began Tuesday night and ran until 3 a.m. "The sad reality is that the schools we must close tonight are not meeting the standards," said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. According to the NY Times, he quieted down after the crowd began booing him, chanting "Racist Joel Klein" and "Where's Joel Klein?" whenever he left to go to the bathroom or make a phone call.
The majority of people assembled at the high school disagreed with the chancellor, including many of the panel's appointees, reported the NY Daily News. The four panel representatives of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens cast their votes against many of the school closings, but were strong-armed by Mayor Bloomberg's eight appointees, along with the representative from Staten Island. “Is there anyone who will defend this?” asked the Manhattan rep Patrick Sullivan, who was met with silence. “I can’t see how anyone can vote in good conscious.”
One school, Alfred E. Smith in the Bronx, got a temporary reprieve but will go up on the chopping block next month. 1010WINS reported that the closures will affect more than 10,000 students and will begin in June. The teachers union says it's ready to go to court over the closings if it can turn up evidence that the city didn't follow procedure in moving for the shut-downs.
