After nine hours of parent, teacher, and politician testimony at a boisterous meeting at Brooklyn Tech last night, the Panel for Educational Policy rubber-stamped the decision to close 19 city schools.

Impassioned pleas to save neighborhood's schools came from the far-reaches of all boroughs -- Far Rockaway, Queens, the Northeast Bronx, Bed Stuy, Brooklyn and midtown Manhattan. Parents from PS 16 on Staten Island were there to protest the plan tosplit their school in half.

For the first time since Mayor Bloomberg took control of the city's schools, parents -- some 2000 strong -- came together in a bid to keep their schools open. However, given that the PEP has previously approved all school closings, the schools' fate appeared to be decided even before the meeting began.

The minimal checks and balances on mayoral control that were put into place by the state legislature last summer, were not enough to offset the mayor's ironclad grip of the schools. Of the 13 members on the oversight board -- the PEP -- eight are appointed by the mayor and serve at his pleasure.<!--more-->

Mayor Bloomberg was not in attendance last night; it was Chancellor Joel Klein who stonefacedly absorbed the many criticisms leveled at the city's central school administrators.

Time out from Testing representatives put on puppets who questioned whether panel members had even bothered to read the educational impact statements or attend the local hearings about their fate. Students gave impassioned testimony urging the chancellor to keep the schools open, making the point that although their four-year graduation rates might be low, many students graduate after five or six years. Anytime charter schools were mentioned, the public erupted with loud boos.

Politicians and teachers told of schools that had been overburdened with special needs students after the closing of other large neighborhood schools, charging that new small schools do not accommodate the neediest students. The UFT, which organized a rally before the meeting, questioned the legality of the proceedings.

Still, in the end, when it was time for the 3 a.m. votes, none of the testimony made a bit of difference to the panel. The mayor's eight appointees, and the borough representative from Staten Island, voted to close 19 schools.

Did all 19 schools deserve to be saved? Maybe not. No one spoke out in favor of tiny, troubled Kappa II, for example. Will the small schools slated to replace the long-established Jamaica and Paul Robeson serve their pupils better? Judging from the DOE's track record with new schools, the answer is probably "yes and no."

And, do parents and the public have a shot at effectively influencing the data-driven administrators in charge of the schools? Apparently not. For better and for worse, that's why it's called mayoral control.

The chancellor and the mayor would be well-advised to harness the passion expressed by parents in last night's meeting. Truly involving the community  in the decisions to open or close schools going forward would help ensure better schools that meet the needs of all students.