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The United Federation of Teachers is suing the city to keep open 22 schools on the Department of Education chopping block.

Included in the list are 15 schools that were kept open by a similar UFT lawsuit last year. The union and advocates won last year when the courts ruled the city had not followed the letter of the law for public review of the closing process.

Walcott, who called the new lawsuit outrageous and irresponsible, said he wants to see the schools closed, as the DOE found they were failing.

"Unacceptable. We are not going to tolerate that, we're going to litigate that. We're going to fight on behalf of our students," said Walcott. "We're going to fight to make sure we have quality schools in place and we're going to fight to make sure that we're going to phase out those schools that have been poor-performance schools through the years. And we will work together with the City Law Department to make sure that we defend the honor of our students."

Meanwhile, the teachers' union, NAACP and other critics of the city say the DOE has not only failed the schools, but also the mostly black, Latino and poor students who attend them.

"The school system in a school building, should not be a lesson in what inequality is and that is clearly what we now have," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

"Today we find ourselves it appropriate that just one day after the 57th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark suit, we return to file suit in a similar fashion," said Ken Cohen of the NAACP.

In response, Walcott said he would personally ask the president of the NAACP to find out why the civil rights group signed onto the suit.

"I heard [Cohen] mentioned Brown v. Board of Education and then try to justify what legitimizes their reason for being part of the lawsuit. For me, it's just the opposite," said the chancellor.

The groups are also hoping to halt 18 cases of "co-location" or expansion of charter schools in standing public school buildings. They argue the space is not shared equally and the charter schools are given more than their fair share.

As of now, no new students are enrolled for the fall in the schools scheduled to close. If the charter schools cannot expand, many students they have accepted would have to find somewhere else to go.