Last night we received an email from a reader with a good memory:
Subject: Will Gotham Schools be blogging the PEP meetings 2/1 and 2/3? Message: Last year you guys did a great job live blogging the entire 9? 10? hours of the PEP meeting where the closing schools vote took place. Am wondering whether you will be doing that again tomorrow and Thursday.
First, last year’s meeting did indeed last for 10 hours, and our coverage exceeded even that. And yes, we are intending to overcome bad weather and a seven-hour time difference to repeat the feat this year. We’ll be live-blogging both of the Panel for Educational Policy meetings this week, starting at about 5 p.m. today.
Our night could be shortened by today’s frightful weather, which could keep some would-be attendees at home. The city’s Office of Emergency Management yesterday issued a weather advisory encouraging people to avoid driving tonight, and the teachers union formally asked the Department of Education to postpone tonight’s meeting. But DOE spokesman Matthew Mittenthal just told us that the meeting is definitely still on.