April 7 Update:   The Department of Education released an update on April 5 stating that all high school acceptance letters, including those involving schools slated for closure, have been mailed. If you have not received your letter, you may request a copy from your school's guidance counselor starting today. Any other questions or concerns should be directed to the DOE at 718-935-2399 or HS_Enrollment@schools.nyc.gov.

Students who have not been matched with a school may attend theSupplementary Round Information Session on April 22nd for more information.

March 29: As thousands of anxious 8th-graders and their families await word on high school placement, Chancellor Klein today announced that acceptance letters have been sent to more than 70,000 students, about 90% of those who applied for next September. For the remaining 8,500 students, who listed one of the schools originally slated for phase-out as one of their 12 choices, the matching process will be done again, this time including those schools.

The chancellor's statement follows Friday's court ruling in a lawsuit brought against the Department of Education by the teachers' union, the NAACP, and parents, which held up the mailing of high school acceptance letters. The state Supreme Court ruled that the DOE failed to follow requirements in issuing Environment Impact Statements on how school closings would affect their communities.

Students who applied for schools originally slated for closure will receive two match letters at the same time, the "main round match and a 'December match,' which would be the school originally slated for phase-out," the DOE said. The student will be able to choose between the two matches. Some 916 students listed one of the "phase-out" schools first on their application. (See the full statement after the jump.)

What will happen if last Friday's court ruling is overturned on appeal and the schools actually close? In that case, the student will attend the school he or she was matched to in the main round, according to the DOE.

A question still unanswered is how many students won't be matched with any school at all. Every year thousands of students do not get accepted at any of the schools they list on their application form. The information about how many there are this year may come out later this week.<!--more-->

How Friday's decision will impact high schools all over the city -- both schools originally slated for closure and new schools yet to be opened -- continues to be a question. WNYC reporter Beth Fertig, speaking on the The Takeaway this morning, talked about the judge's decision that the city violated a state law by not giving enough details on how the closures would affect students and schools.

Although the city held required public hearings about the plans to close schools, Judge Joan B. Lobis ruled that the Department of Education should have given a lot more information to the public. It relied too heavily on its website to disseminate information, she said, noting that many families, especially in poor communities where many of the schools are located, don't have access to the Web.

TheDaily News reported yesterday that the DOE still plans to open several charter and other new schools which are slated to move into buildings where schools would be phased out. The city may have to find new space for some of them. DOE press spokesperson Danny Kanner is quoted: "The court's decision relates to the closure of failing schools, not the siting of new schools. We ... are assessing what steps need to be taken in order to achieve that goal. We have no plans to change course for the creation of new schools."

On GothamSchools.org, David Bloomfield, Brooklyn College professor and lawyer,writes it's a"sad day for school closures." In his view, that the city should "brazenly violate" the law is "contemptible" but he fears that the city's students may "still be denied quality education" if the DOE lets "the schools continue to sink" and moves in replacement schools "despite law regulating co-location." Bloomfield, formerly counsel at the Board of Education, thinks the chances of the DOE winning on appeal are slim.

Below is a list of schools the PEP voted to close in January and which were given a stay of execution by Friday's court ruling.

Bronx

Christopher Columbus High School

Frederick Douglass Academy III (middle school)

Global Enterprise High School

Monroe Academy for Business/Law

New Day Academy

School for Community Research and Learning

Brooklyn

Metropolitan Corporate Academy

Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence

Paul Robeson High School

P.S. 332

William H. Maxwell Career and Technical High School

Manhattan

Academy of Collaborative Education

Academy of Environmental Science

Choir Academy of Harlem (high school grades only)

KAPPA II

Norman Thomas High School

Queens

Beach Channel High School

Jamaica High School

School of Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship

Chancellor Klein's statement:

“We have now sent high school acceptance letters to more than 70,000 students–nearly 90 percent of students who applied. To provide options for those students who selected a school originally slated for phase-out as one of their choices, we will run the matching process again including schools originally slated for phase-out. If a student is matched to one of those schools, he or she will be able to choose between that school and the school he or she was matched to in the main round.  If the court’s decision is overturned on appeal, the student will attend the school he or she was matched to in the main round.”