Supporters of the Cardinal Gibbons School say the Archdiocese of Baltimore is refusing to hear their plan to keep the school open beyond the end of the academic year.

Alumni have drafted a proposal to take over Cardinal Gibbons, now slated to close in June, and run it as an independent Catholic high school. But at a meeting this week at the Catholic Center, they say, Bishop Denis J. Madden refused to look at it.

"Their minds are already made up," said Wayne McDowell, a board member. "They have already started the process to sell the property. It has been surveyed. They have acknowledged that they are developing requests for proposals."

Archdiocese officials have described the decision to close Cardinal Gibbons and 12 elementary schools at the end of the academic year as irreversible. A spokesman said Wednesday that the Cardinal Gibbons supporters were raising false hope for students who must soon decide where they will attend classes in September.

"They are banking on hope - and that is not a sound basis," spokesman Sean Caine said. "Nothing we have seen or heard is a realistic plan to address the school's problems."

John Dillow, an alumnus who works in charter school development, said archdiocesan officials won't see or hear any proposal. At the request of fellow alumni, he said, he put together "a positive, coherent plan" that addresses falling enrollments, rising costs and the school's debt to the archdiocese.

"These are tough times with even tougher challenges," he said. "But there are creative solutions, if you are willing to look.

"This is a viable plan that can work. We have created a reasonable option that would provide the archdiocese with a regular payment.

"I walked out of that meeting thinking that I just don't get it," he said.

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien described the school closings this month as an effort to "stop and regroup" in the face of long-standing challenges confronting the system of 22,700 students. Officials say the archdiocese is dealing with a $34 million deficit and 10,000 empty seats in its schools. Cardinal Gibbons, the only high school among the schools to close, sits on 33 acres at Caton and Wilkens avenues.

"Anybody with a brain for business knows you have to liquidate in this situation, and property is something the church has to sell," Dillow said.

Caine said, "There will come a time when the archdiocese will have to consider selling the property."

McDowell said the archdiocese is alienating the very people it is trying to help.

"These are not caring educators," he said. "They are hatchet men."

Alumni say they have raised more than $125,000 in less than two weeks and believe they can raise much more. McDowell said parents have assured the faculty their children will remain at Gibbons. The school had accepted 168 freshmen for next fall, the week before the closing announcement.

Caine said the archdiocese has vowed to work with Gibbons families to bridge tuition gaps and transportation issues. He acknowledged their disappointment.

"For those directly impacted, it is hard to see the positives," he said. "This will only strengthen our schools in the long run."