Over 2,000 angry students, parents, teachers, administrators, politicians and community leaders packed the largest auditorium in the NYC school system at Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene Brooklyn to protest the proposed closing of 19 New York City Public Schools. Bus loads of protesters from all over the city attended a rally held by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) on DeKalb Avenue and S. Elliott Place yesterday evening. They then moved into the school’s auditorium where over 320 people signed up to address the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP).

The Department of Education (DOE) said the 19 schools in question have failed students for a number of years now, as demonstrated by low test scores and graduation rates. Opponents said the closings are simply a tactic for the DOE and the business minded Mayor Bloomberg to pour public money into private hands through the creation of Charter Schools. They believe the DOE has based their decision on error-ridden data.

The meeting became extremely heated at times when speakers who exceeded the allotted time of two minutes had their microphones turned off. There were over 100 police on hand in case the meeting got out of control, but it never did.

Many protesters called for the removal of School Chancellor Joel Klein. They also voiced their displeasure with Mayor Bloomberg. One protester asked for a guilty verdict for the lack of due process and the arrest of the entire Panel. The majority of protesters asked the Panel for more time, money and resource to make the schools work. There was only one parent who spoke in support of the panel’s decision.

The meeting ran from 6pm until approximately 3:30am. In the end, the panel did vote to close all 19 schools. Since 2003, the City has phased out 91 public schools.

You can see additional photos from the meeting here.