CHOPPING BLOCK: eacher Stefanie Siegel (above) says Paul Robeson HS will battle to stop closure.
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More than 3,100 students in 10 public schools yesterday struggled to come to terms with the news that their schools are officially going to close or be phased out.
The 13-member Panel for Educational Policy voted in the wee hours yesterday to shutter all 10 schools — four in Manhattan, four in The Bronx and two in Brooklyn — that were on the chopping block because of poor performance.
“It’s horrible! When I found out about it, I was shocked, and my mom couldn’t believe it,” said Aminata Meite, a seventh-grader at IS 195 in Harlem. “The school shouldn’t be shut down for students’ mistakes . . . I really feel bad about it.”
Eight of the 10 schools had been set to close last year, but they got a reprieve when a lawsuit successfully argued that the public process that preceded the decisions had violated state law.
Even with a second straight strike against them, some in those schools are holding out hope.
“We’re devastated. But we knew they made their minds up about us years ago,” said Stefanie Siegel, a 20-year teacher at Paul Robeson HS in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights. “You can bet we’re not giving up.”
The panel is scheduled to vote on an additional 13 closures tonight and two more next month.
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen