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Protesters came to Queens with socks puppets on their hands Wednesday. They were meant to symbolize what demonstrators think of the appointed education panel that is controlled by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Most of the protesters were loosely affiliated with and inspired by Occupy Wall Street. They call themselves “Occupy the DOE.”

In October, they shut down another meeting about the curriculum by chanting over Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and speakers.

This time there was a large police presence, but the protesters said they never planned to derail the meeting. Instead, they just wanted to make it clear how unhappy they are with how Bloomberg runs the schools.

“We feel very strongly that this is a panel that does not listen to the public. Does not listen to parents, teachers or students. That's why we call it a puppet panel. They do not think for themselves,” said Gloria Brandman, a special education teacher.

The Panel for Educational Policy was voting on several proposals that would result in separate schools sharing the same buildings. One involved a gifted school in Harlem, where parents said their kids would be squeezed if another school in the building was allowed to expand.

“Unlike the other gifted and talented schools, we are constantly asked to do more with less,” said one protester.

Another controversial proposal was to put a new charter school into a building in Cobble Hill that already houses three other schools.

The charter will be part of a network of high-performing schools called “Success,” which is run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz. Parents and teachers came to say the community doesn't need another school and that it would overcrowd the building.

The Occupy protesters supported the fight against the charter school, but after more than two hours, they said they'd had enough.

“None of these things would be happening if this was an elected panel. So we know what this is. There is no democracy in whatever we say. We could come up here and we could testify all night long. We've been through this before with Klein, with Cathie Black at three o'clock in the morning. You’re going to vote no matter what we say,” said one protester.

After the protesters left, parents continued to address the panel. Ninety-five had signed up to speak, but in the end, DOE officials said there was room for all of the schools to expand.

As always, the panel voted to approve all of the proposals.