Hundreds of students left class early Wednesday to protest the Department of Education's plan to close their schools. NY1’s Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.

The final bell was still an hour off when students walked out of Legacy High School in protest.

They were heading to Union Square to rally with other kids whose schools are on the Department of Education's list for potential closure.

The citywide Panel for Education Policy is scheduled to vote next week on whether to close 25 schools. It has never overruled the DOE, so some students say they feel they're fighting an uphill battle:

"They're treating us like we don't matter, like we're nothing, and I'm sorry, but we are something. I am something," said one student.

"The purpose, I believe of this, is basically to spread a word or to tell the rest of the youth and let them know listen, the youth should stand up for our education, what we think is right," said another.

Students and their supporters wrote their thoughts on a giant banner that lists all of the schools on the potential chopping block.

Many parents at the rally say trying to keep the schools open is a full-time job.

"It's taking up a lot of time for a lot of parents who are frustrated with the way Mayor Bloomberg is running the Department of Education. It's totally not fair. It's time that he has to stop playing politics with our children’s lives," said one parent.

The DOE points to data from each of the schools on the list, showing the elementary and middle school students are way behind in reading and math and that the high school students are not on track to graduate.

But some say the statistics don't reflect what's really going on.

"Mayor Bloomberg expects us to succeed when we don't have the correct resources to move on and to have progress," said one student.

"Nobody understands unless they're sitting in the classroom with us," said another.

Other students say they see their fight as an unexpected lesson in perseverance.

"Whatever the decision is, we're still going and fighting. We won't end, we won't stop," said one student.