Twelve high schools and seven middle and elementary schools in the city will be phased out, after the Panel of Educational Policy voted to close them early Wednesday morning after a raucous public meeting in Brooklyn that lasted more than nine hours.

Around 320 parents, teachers and students signed up at about 6 p.m. Tuesday for the chance to speak at the meeting at Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene. By the time the panel voted 9-4 to close the schools at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, about 100 people remained and emotions were still running high.

It was the first time under the new mayor control laws that school closures were voted on before the public, but many at the meeting lamented that the vote was a foregone conclusion.

"It was a waste of our time and it was a joke. They were just appeasing the state law, doing what the state asked," said teacher Kellee Brownell. "But in reality, they weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing, which is listening to us and really taking into consideration whether our school should actually be closed our not."

"I believe the PEP panel, those nine members had their minds made up since they decided this," said student Christopher Petrillo. "They didn't care. As much as we poured out our hearts to them, they didn't care."

The list includes six large high schools and six smaller high schools created in previous rounds of closures. Most will be replaced by smaller schools, often in the same buildings.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said the school closings were not punitive, as the affected schools had low graduation rates and student test scores.

"It's understandable, and I've made this clear, people are going to have strong emotions," said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. "A lot of alumni have strong emotions, people who are at the school, obviously the faculty at the school, and we respect that. But it's not by happenstance that President [Barack] Obama has articulated a policy that we have been implementing, and that is there comes a point where the interests of the next generation of children has to take precedence."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it a difficult, but necessary step, and said, "We cannot continue to send our children to schools that have failed them for years."

Since the mayor was granted control of the school system in 2002, the city has closed 91 schools and created 335 new ones.

Eight of the Panel For Educational Policy's 13 members are appointed by the mayor, and the five borough presidents each appoint one member. The Staten Island representative joined the mayoral appointees in voting for school closings.

One school originally on the list, Alfred E. Smith High School for Career and Technical Education in the Bronx, was given a reprieve as a new proposal to keep its automotive tech program open is considered.

A public hearing will be held and then the panel will vote, but it is still unclear when that will happen.