SEATTLE -- Outraged parents are ready to take on Seattle Public Schools to keep their schools and programs.

The district announced its preliminary plan to close seven buildings and relocate hundreds of students in order to help close a $24-million funding gap. The news isn't sitting well with a number of parents.

Wednesday was a somber day at Arbor Heights Elementary in West Seattle. Parents who worried that the building would be closed, are instead baffled by a different move. The district wants to keep the building open, but move all 300 students to other schools.

"Where are our kids going to go? Are they going to be crowded? Are they going to get as much attention as the other students?" said parent Christine Osporne. "other than that, you have other communities where drugs are a big part of it. I don't want my kids in that."

Parents say Arbor Heights is a model school with strong academics and parent involvement. About 90 percent of the students live in the neighborhood, and families say they moved into the area so their children can attend the school.

"They send their kids here because they trust the staff. They believe in the system, and they know their kids are getting a good education here," said Tammy Wooley, Arbor Heights parent. "There is a number of schools in the south cluster they (parents) would not be too excited sending their kids to."

Under the district's money-saving proposal, seven buildings are recommended for closure, from Alternative School #1 in North Seattle to Van Asselt elementary in Rainier Valley.

At TT Minor in the Central District, the elementary school again finds itself on the hit list. TT Minor was spared being shutdown two years ago. But with only 200 students and a dilapidated building, it will face a much tougher battle this time around.

Still, much like they did two years ago, parents say they're ready to wage another fight to stay open.

"Everything that we could offer our children is right here at TT Minor. We don't need to take our children and go somewhere else or to another program" said parent Jackie Wofford.

Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson on Tuesday unveiled her preliminary recommendations for capacity and building closures for the upcoming year.

In a statement addressed to staff, families and community members, Goodloe-Johnson cited a $24-million funding gap in next year's budget, as well as the district's excess capacity, general economic challenges and a geographic imbalance between school capacity and where school-age children live as the reasons behind her recommendations.

She recommended six school buildings, namely Genesee Hill, Lowell, Mann, TT Minor, Pinehurst and Van Asselt, be closed and a seventh building, Old Hay, be closed temporarily with the possibility of reopening in the future.

Also under the preliminary plan, nine programs would relocate from one building to another. Lowell APP would relocate to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall, NOVA and SBOC to Meany and Pathfinder K-8 to Arbor Heights. Summit K-12 would move to Rainier Beach, Thornton Creek to Addams, TT Minor K-3 Montessori to Leschi, Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Bailey Gatzert and Van Asselt to AAA.

A new K-5 program would open at Decatur, and Thornton Creek K-5 would expand to K-8.

Five programs would be discontinued and their students reassigned to new schools beginning in fall 2009. Those programs are the African American Academy, AS #1, Arbor Heights, Meany and TT Minor.

The recommendations will be considered during the months of December and January. A series of public hearings on the schools to be closed will begin in approximately three weeks.

The superintendent will release her final recommendations, which will be based on public input and additional analysis, on Jan. 6. The School Board is expected to vote on Jan. 29.