Last night’s meeting at John F. Kennedy High School to discuss the Department of Education’s controversial proposal to phase out the school was a sparsely attended affair.

Despite the fact that the plan has been widely publicized in the news and will affect more than 1,100 students, only about 20 parents attended. And many of them were furious over what they said was the DOE’s lack of transparency that led to the poor showing.

On Monday, students were sent home with notices in their backpacks that were meant to inform parents about the DOE’s proposal to close the school by 2014 and invite them to the Wednesday meeting to discuss the pressing issue.

But some parents who made it to the meeting said the DOE should have given more than two days' notice and should not have informed them about it by sending a letter home with their children.

Janice Lamarche, a Title 1 representative at the school and Parent Teacher Association member, took the issue up with the DOE at the meeting.

“If you knew this was going to happen, why did you not give us the common courtesy to allow us to come in and ask questions?” she said. “This is not a fair meeting.”

Jose Ruiz, a DOE official who works on education reform at local schools, said it was “mandated” that the meeting be held the same week the proposal to phase out the school was announced. After being pressed by an attendee, he said the meeting’s timing was not legally mandated but required by his bosses in the DOE’s central office.

DOE spokesman Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld said there were parent meetings in October to discuss the possible phase out of JFK.

"This is more than a month and a half before we announced our decision to propose it for phase out," he wrote in an e-mail.

Meeting attendees pressed Mr. Ruiz to hold another parent meeting before the public hearing in January. He said he would take the request to his bosses.

Although the phase out cannot move forward until it is approved by a Panel for Educational Policy vote in February, the language in "Enrollment Information for Students and their Families," handed out at last night’s meeting, made it sound like a done deal.

“John F. Kennedy High School will completely phase out in June 2014,” the handout read in part, before outlining students' options for the coming years.

The DOE’s proposal is for JFK to stop taking incoming freshman this fall and diminish in size until the last class graduates in June 2014. Two other schools would replace it starting in September, according to a DOE report.

Parents who would like to submit questions, comments or concerns to the DOE can call 212-374-3466 or e-mail hs.proposals@schools.nyc.gov.