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At 6 years old, TIDE Academy is the Sequoia Union High School District’s youngest and smallest school. The board’s unanimous decision Feb. 4 to close the Menlo Park campus in June left TIDE teachers, parents, students and even board President Amy Koo in tears.
While TIDE hasn’t been around long, it’s won the hearts of many. TIDE supporters weren’t shy about expressing their feelings to the board as they shouted comments during an emotionally charged meeting Wednesday night.
Since district officials first floated the idea of closing TIDE in November, its supporters have poured out their hearts in defense of the 200-student school, saying it nurtures its students, many of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged or grappling with learning differences, and has offered a refuge from bullying that some faced at bigger, mainstream high school campuses.
The board opted to move TIDE’s programs to Woodside High School next fall, and then phase them out after three years.
Citing declining enrollment and a budget deficit, a district board committee had asked Superintendent Crystal Leach to explore closing TIDE to shore up the district’s finances. At the Wednesday evening meeting, Leach presented three options, none of which would keep the school open past 2029.
If it does not close TIDE, high schools throughout the district will see teacher layoffs and budget cuts, Leach said. She recommended either closing TIDE at the end of this school year or the 2027-28 school year and moving the school’s programs to Woodside or closing TIDE in 2029 and allowing its current ninth, 10th and 11th graders to graduate.
“I’m thinking of the thousands of students in the different high schools around us. We’re going to have to make cuts. Something’s got to give,” said district board member Maria Cruz.
According to Leach, TIDE is estimated to cost about $8 million to operate this school year. Since the district spends over 85% of its budget on salaries and benefits, it’s difficult to reduce costs without reducing labor, she said.
The idea of moving TIDE Academy to Woodside High, which was first floated at a meeting on Jan. 26, has not been well received. Woodside is one of the district’s larger campuses, with a student population five times bigger than TIDE. The school is located 6 miles west of TIDE, which is on Jefferson Drive on the east side of Highway 101.
Hector Cornejo, a teacher at TIDE, said only nine out of 49 of his students said they would be willing to transfer to Woodside.
“A lot of us considered that we are not going to Woodside for various reasons,” said TIDE freshman Max Tsao. “Many of us are worried about the transportation, since going from Menlo Park to Woodside, during rush hour, would take us at least half an hour to 40 minutes.”
TIDE student Eliaz Kahn said in public comment that he transferred to TIDE from Woodside because he was bullied for having autism and faced death threats and slurs from classmates.
“Do you know what it feels like to have recruited all the ninth and 10th graders in this room, to hear their stories and to feel like I sold them a fake dream of success and security?” TIDE teacher and recruitment coordinator Daphne Pacia-McCann asked the board with tears in her eyes.
Woodside Principal Karen van Putten, who received hostile looks and disparaging comments from the crowd at the board meeting, explained that she did not volunteer to absorb TIDE’s program — the district chose Woodside.
“We are ready to welcome any student who chooses us. We are going to welcome the TIDE staff,” said Van Putten. “It’s going to take some time. It’s going to take some pivoting. It’s going to take time to adapt.”
Many students testified that TIDE gave them a second chance at achieving academic success. At recent meetings, students stood up and shared their pride in earning straight A’s for the first time, learning how to successfully write an essay with the support of TIDE teachers and finally finding their community on its campus.
Koo, who said that she has a neurodivergent child, empathized with distraught TIDE supporters. At the meeting, she said that she is also a parent who is facing the closure of her own child’s small middle school. Her oldest child attended a small school and eventually found his place in a larger high school. Although she recognized the pain that the community was experiencing, she also emphasized her responsibility to oversee the district’s budget as a board member.
“Finances are finances, and as a board, we have a fiduciary duty to make sure that our three-year projections are in alignment, and we want to make the adjustment over time and not be in a scramble at the last minute, and that is why I support the district’s recommendation to close TIDE,” Koo said.
Over the last few years, the district has been cutting costs by eliminating administrative positions and exploring reorganization, according to Leach. District reports show that with TIDE closing this school year, the district will save $14 million over four years with the phase out.
“If this is a budgetary issue, this community will help,” said one parent, who was not alone in suggesting that community fundraising efforts could save TIDE.
School board member Sathvik Nori acknowledged that the district could have explored different budgetary solutions but found it difficult to vote against Leach’s recommendations after hearing of potential teacher layoffs.
“The option the board chose will ensure that current students have the option to stay together, and will allocate future resources to serve students across the district,” said Leach in a district press release. “Now we begin the next phase: working with each and every TIDE student and staff member to ensure a smooth transition.”
The district will be establishing a transition planning team that will present an implementation package to the board later this year. Plans for what will become of TIDE’s $50 million campus once it’s vacated are still unknown.
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