District trustees Mary Beth Thompson and Rich Ginn proposed creating a plan to discuss the closure of TIDE Academy at a board meeting on Nov. 14. The pair, who together serve on a committee overseeing District financials, cited low enrollment rates and District-wide budget shortfalls as the reason for this consideration.
They asked Superintendent Crystal Leach to create a plan outlining the school’s potential closure, taking into consideration legal steps and the transitional process. Leach aims to share the plan at the Dec. 10 board meeting, with all board members voting on a final decision by February.
TIDE serves 2% of the District’s student population and has a student to teacher ratio of 9:1. The school, which first opened in August 2019, intended to meet the district-wide goal to “construct a new alternative small school to meet the diverse needs of our incoming student population.”
Thompson acknowledged the difficulty of closing a school, but explained that, with structural deficits, the Board has a duty to consider the financial impact of keeping TIDE open. This fall, the Board voted to grant teachers a disappointing 3% pay increase over the next two years, which is not set to keep pace with inflation.
“Because [TIDE] is such a small school, it requires a disproportionate amount of resources to operate,” Thompson said. “Over time, that means students will have fewer classes, electives, and program options that we can offer when resources are better aligned across the District.”
According to TIDE’s Lead & College Counselor Lara Sandora, the cost of operating TIDE is more complex than it may appear. “Though the per-pupil spending at TIDE seems high at first glance, as with most things in life, context is everything. Nearly half are students with disabilities,” Sandora said.
TIDE’s main attraction for many students is the smaller size and greater attention to student needs. “I’m able to receive accommodations for my IEP a lot easier than I would have at M-A,” TIDE sophomore Audrey Primuth said.
“Many of the students at TIDE are neurodivergent and prone to being bullied,” Carol Fan, the parent of a sophomore at TIDE, said. “For many other students, small, intimate and personalized education is critical for them to thrive.”
“It is extremely difficult for most families to find the money to move their students who need a smaller and more supportive environment to a private school instead,” she added. “TIDE provides the only public, small school option in the area.”
If TIDE were to close, most students would be reassigned to other schools within the District. Tenured teachers would also be redistributed to schools across the District, meaning staff across all eight schools would be impacted.
“Classrooms would be more crowded; teachers and administrators would be spread even thinner,” Fan said about the consequences if TIDE were to close. While making the large schools larger may make financial sense, it would not serve our students well.”
If other district schools are unable to accommodate disabled students and cannot provide a Free and Appropriate Education, students may be entitled to placement at a private school at the District’s expense
“The cost to educate a student with a disability at TIDE can be as little as 1/3 the cost of the district paying tuition at a private or non-public school,” Sandora said.
Besides TIDE, which serves 208 students, Redwood City charter school Summit Prep is the smallest option in the District with a population of 379 students. Before joining the Board, Thompson served as executive director of Summit Prep.
Some parents have pointed to Thompson’s history as a conflict of interest in the consideration of the school closing.
“Mary Beth Thompson, who co-wrote the Nov. 12 recommendation to consider closing TIDE, is a former Executive Director at Summit Prep Charter School, which gives the appearance of a conflict of interest in this decision,” Fan said. “Ms. Thompson’s former colleagues would undoubtedly benefit from having TIDE students move to Summit.”
Summit Prep, unlike TIDE, is a charter school. Charter schools are still required to follow IEPS and 504s, but may be exempt from certain local and state-wide laws. For example, California’s Department of Education states charter schools may enter into a Memorandum of Understanding that grants “more autonomy, responsibility, and funding to provide special education and related services.”
The possibility of TIDE closing has sparked widespread discussion among the student and parent community. A petition dedicated to keeping TIDE open has gathered over 1,000 signatures in just two weeks.
Some parents also expressed concern over the Board’s timing. Fan pointed out that this announcement was made in the middle of recruitment season, which would deter potential students from enrolling in TIDE. “The Board is taking actions to ensure that TIDE will not meet their enrollment targets so that they can close it down,” she said.
“Their timing and communication choices feel almost designed to create failure instead of bolster TIDE’s success,” Toni Ouradnik, parent of a current TIDE student and a recent TIDE graduate, said.
