After the District Board of Trustees voted to close TIDE Academy (TIDE) at the end of the 2025-26 school year, students were relocated to high schools of their choice within the District. According to the District’s public information officer, Naomi Hunter, of 187 former TIDE students, 61 transferred to M-A this fall. M-A welcomed the largest number of TIDE student transfers out of any other high school within the District.
Students chose M-A for a variety of reasons. Many chose M-A because it is nearby, is where their friends were going, and has a strong reputation.
“I have heard it is one of the better schools in the District, and many of my friends were planning to come here. My mom also had some parents recommend this school, and she felt that it would be a good fit for me,” junior Deene Spektor-Thoma said.
“It’s extremely close to home, and I had friends from middle school that chose to go there while I went to TIDE freshman year,” junior Emily Edwards said.
“M-A originally was not my first choice,” student Alihandria Chavez said. “Despite that, I chose M-A because a lot of my close friends were transferring here as well, so I felt it was better to go somewhere with people I am the most comfortable with.”
Students and staff have shared mixed opinions about their experience at M-A so far.
“My friends from TIDE have expressed that they are having trouble and feel many negative emotions about the adaptation to M-A. It’s many different emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety, [and] a sense of loss,” Edwards said. “It felt alienating joining my third year into a completely new school. I’m grateful for my friends from middle school that I quickly connected with again.”
“I see my TIDE colleagues and students here only occasionally, not daily,” counselor Lara Sandora said. Sandora worked at M-A for 12 years before spending the past five years at TIDE.
Many TIDE students and staff miss the community and friendships they had at TIDE.
“I miss my community the most. I met some of my closest friends at TIDE, and I cherish that a lot,” Chavez said.
“TIDE was an exceptional professional environment, so in many ways, my colleagues and I are seeking to recreate that unique, positive work environment, but we are spread across the remaining six schools in the District,” Sandora said. “So that means that many are struggling to adjust to new schools, new roles, and new communities.”
Some students have found the transition to be going well and have reflected on the positive aspects of the adjustment to the new environment.
“M-A for me hasn’t struggled much in satisfying my expectations, and it has exceeded my expectations in the quality of the teachers that I got, at least,” Spektor-Thoma said. “I am loving the AP classes, since I didn’t take any in TIDE, although the college classes are kind of similar in their expectations and rigor.”
“Some of my friends and the faculty from TIDE gather during lunch to be with each other apart from the M-A atmosphere,” Edwards said. “I am pleasantly surprised by the warmth and understanding the teachers have to us new students and am grateful for their awareness of the difficult place we’ve been put into.”
“I am grateful for the five years I was part of that community, and we are doing our best to maintain small pieces of it as we move forward,” Sandora said.
