The city’s education department granted reprieves yesterday to two of the 25 schools on its initial chopping block, saying they appeared ready to make improvements despite their struggles.
The stays of execution for the middle grades of Manhattan’s Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts and for KAPPA VII middle school in Brooklyn came just ahead of tonight’s scheduled hearing on a first group of closures.
An additional 33 district schools and four charter schools are also facing phase-out.
Thousands of people are expected to pack the 6 p.m. meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy at Brooklyn Tech HS, including members of Occupy Wall Street who are planning to disrupt it with measures like call-and-response chanting.
The teachers’ union is also planning to splinter the hearing by holding its own school closures forum at nearby PS 20.
The proposals to close the schools are expected to be approved because eight of the 13 panel members are appointed by the mayor.
The panel has never vetoed a proposed closure.