What a HUGE disappointment this ruling is. In a city in which HUNDREDS of schools need to be closed for chronic educational malpractice, a judge has thrown a wrench in the process of closing a mere 19. I read the entire decision (http://gothamschools.org/2010/03/26/court-overturns-closures-of-19-city-schools/#more-35516) and it's clear that the DOE didn't cross some t's and dot some i's, but the judge shouldn't have stopped the closure. Hopefully it will be quickly overturned:

A judge on Friday halted a plan to close 19 New York City schools, a ruling that could place New York state in an unflattering light as it competes for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Race to the Top funding.

…"It's very unfortunate that in order to protect jobs, the union is trying to force kids to go to what are clearly failing schools," said Mr. Klein. "I think it goes against the clear thrust" of what the Obama administration has been advocating—to close "the bottom 5% of schools, the dropout factories."

…"It's clear now that the mayor and the chancellor don't have as much control over what happens in their schools as they thought they did," said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, which advocates closing persistently low-performing schools.

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