The New York City Department of Education department has released a list of 36 elementary and middle schools that are on the chopping block.

Progress reports for those schools came out Monday.

Schools with grades of "F"or "D" as well as schools that received a "C" or lower for three straight years are eligible for closure.

The 36 schools put on notice Wednesday still have a few weeks to convince the DOE to take them off the final list.

While Mayor Bloomberg has committed to opening 50 new schools next year, teacher and principal unions have been harsh critics of his policies.

"I remember two years ago the Mayor went to Washington and bragged that he was going to close 200 more schools before he left as mayor," said Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers. "He literally bragged about saying that he was gonna make sure 200 schools failed in New York City so he could fail them. To me, that means you're not really worried about the schools or the kids inside of them."

Last year, 20 elementary and middle schools were named to the early engagement list.

Nine were closed, while two others lost their middle school grades.