The city's Panel for Educational Policy has voted to shut down five Brooklyn schools despite opposition from hundreds of students, parents and teachers.

The Department of Education (DOE) says the affected schools will close at the end of this school year and reopen in the fall as smaller "turnaround" schools. Officials say the new schools will have a better chance of receiving federal grant money, but it also means replacing at least 50 percent of all teaching staffs.

John Dewey, Sheepshead Bay and Automotive high schools, along with John Ericsson Middle School and George Gershwin Junior High School will undergo the shakeup. A total of 24 schools throughout the city received the same fate.