SEATTLE -- At a school board meeting Wednesday night, Seattle's schools superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson expanded her list of proposed school closures from seven to nine to deal with a bigger budget shortfall.

The changes included possibly merging Rainier Beach and Cleveland High Schools at Cleveland and then moving middle school students from several programs to the Rainier Beach building.

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There's also the possibility of ending the Summit K-12 program altogether.

With seven schools already on the list for potential closings, many parents from those schools are fighting hard to save them.

Public comment on the school closings wasn't supposed to be on the agenda at the meeting, but it happened anyway as parents faced the prospect of losing their children's schools.

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"I am deeply saddened, I can't begin to share with you the rage, the confusion, the fear that this recommendation has generated across our city," said parent Michael Foster.

More parents will have to opportunity to speak about the proposed school closings in what the district is calling a workshop Thursday night at school district headquarters.

The Community Consultative Workshop will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at John Stanford Center at 2445 3rd Ave. S. in Seattle.

The prior seven schools on the suggested list of closures included Genesee Hill, Lowell, Mann, TT Minor, Pinehurst, Van Asselt and Old Hay.

The schools on the list are only recommendations. The superintendent plans to release her final decisions on Jan. 29.