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The public meeting at Seward Park High School at 350 Grand Street was supposed to be a meeting for parents to learn about new curriculum standards.

But as soon as Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott began speaking through his headset microphone, a different type of microphone drowned him out.

Called the "People's Microphone," the protesters' call-and-repeat chants, now a trademark of the Occupy Wall Street movement, derailed the Department of Education meeting.

Walcott continued to introduce the scheduled speaker, despite the chanting, but curriculum specialist David Coleman quickly gave up trying to speak over the call-and-repeat chants.

The chancellor moved the official meeting to the third floor, split between three different classrooms.

"It's a combination of a variety of issues. But I don't hear a lot about parents and that's unfortunate as far as they are drowning out the parents," Walcott said.

The protestors continued to hold their own meeting in the auditorium and discussed their opposition to mayoral control of schools and education budget cuts.

Among their chants was, "They are out of touch with the New York City school children, teachers, parents and many administrators," and "They want parents to blame teachers and they want teachers to blame parents."

Many of the several hundred protesters were public school teachers. Some of them have been involved and are even organizers of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Other participants said they were just been inspired by the ongoing protest.

Loud, angry crowds are nothing new at education panel meetings but this was the first time that a meeting was ever so disrupted that it had to be relocated.

The protestors say they hope to "occupy" future education panel meetings.

"People are really excited about the 'People's Mic,' because we can rely on the power of each other to have our voices heard," said teacher Rosie Frascella.

"We'll deal with them when we face it," said Walcott.

A few dozen parents came to learn about the curriculum and were surprised by the protest.

"I was very afraid that I was going to walk out without getting any information, and these are night where I want to be with my kids at home, so I was afraid that we weren't going to have any substance," said parent Michelle Ciulla Lipkin. "But it was good once we walked into the smaller rooms."

Although hectic, things remained peaceful, with almost as many police officers as protesters. Both the chancellor's meeting and the "occupation" ended after about two hours.