Superintendent: TIDE could move to Woodside High School

The district’s Board of Trustees must decide the future of the school Feb. 4. For the first time since discussions began in November, Leach shared a plan that she seems inclined toward — moving the students, and some faculty, from TIDE to operate as a cohort at Woodside High School. A district spokesperson said Leach has not made a decision on her recommendation, however, and that it will be included in the board meeting agenda.

The high school, located at the opposite side of the district’s boundary from TIDE’s Menlo Park campus, was identified as the most viable option to house TIDE, Leach said. It is the smallest of the four larger comprehensive high schools, serving approximately 1,640 kids. 

Though the intricate details have yet to be discussed, Leach said the district could possibly move teachers and the same course offerings to Woodside, along with the students, to replicate TIDE’s feel. Intentional scheduling and planning could “support continuity of relationships and supports during the transition,” Leach said. 

“What makes TIDE special is the students and the staff and the relationships they have together. It’s not the building, it’s not the location,” Leach said. 

Leach and district staff members sat on a panel presenting data on district finances, TIDE demographics and student academic scores Monday evening. District staff repeatedly stated there were no differences in the services for students, particularly those receiving special education support or who are neurodivergent, offered at TIDE compared to the larger, comprehensive schools. 

Students who receive support from special education, such as 504 plans or Individual Education Program, would get the same services at any other school, Shana Karashima, district coordinator of Multi-tiered System of Supports, said. 

“It may seem that 504 supports are easier to implement, or more closely monitored [at a small school], but that’s not the case,” Karashima said. 

There is “nothing unique” about the 504 plans offered at TIDE, Karashima said. 

Many parents felt this assertion blatantly ignored the testimony of students who shared their personal hardships at larger schools, and the community they’ve found at TIDE. 

TIDE Academy Principal Simone Rick-Kennel also acknowledged the district’s statements could seem dismissive of lived experiences. As the former principal at the large Menlo-Atherton High School, Rick-Kennel said there are absolute distinctions, although services may be comparable. 

“One thing that is a distinction and unique is the thought that TIDE staff have put into accommodations,” Rick-Kennel said. “The flexibility to implement those accommodations is far greater, in my experience, just because it’s smaller.” 

Karashima said “there is no flexibility or leeway” of services offered through 504 plans as they are required by law. 

Should the district opt to relocate TIDE students to Woodside, this would effectively ignore the reason many families opted to enroll in the small campus, many public commenters said. 

“For families whose children were harmed, overwhelmed, or left behind in traditional settings, this narrative feels like gaslighting,” a statement written on behalf of TIDE Academy parents and families read. 

For Libby Werba, a parent of a ninth grade TIDE Academy student on the autism spectrum, closing the school or moving the students to a large campus would likely mean they would leave the district. Woodside High School simply “isn’t realistic, from a sensory perspective,” she said.

“When you have an autistic kiddo, everything costs more,” Werba said, including the cost of quality and responsive education. 

Before TIDE Academy, Werba’s daughter attended a private special education school. Being able to attend a public high school that suited the needs of her child “was like being seen for the first time,” Werba said.

“Other families of autistic kids are jealous, it’s a model,” Werba said. “Now we’re probably going to have to go back to 65K a year. It just sucks.” 

Multiple options

Moving TIDE Academy to Woodside High School is one of multiple options the district is weighing. The potential closure of the alternative school has worried both enrolled and prospective families who feel the decision is being made quickly and without sufficient empathy for the impact on families. 

At Monday’s meeting, the crowd shook their heads and groaned as district staff presented its lengthy data points; Principal Rick-Kennel’s points made throughout the lengthy study session were often the only that seemed to resonate with the large audience. 

“She gets it,” Werba said. “She really believes in TIDE and we really believe in her.” 

In between testing scores and college and career readiness metrics, Rick-Kennel added clarification points and context that recognized the school’s size and youth. There are only three graduating classes from which to pull data, and small cohorts mean easily-influenced data. 

“We’re outing a very small group of students,” Rick-Kennel said. “We just have to be mindful of that. One student could throw a percentage.” 

Jesus C., a senior at TIDE Academy who is designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged, said no other school could have allowed him to graduate high school with a completed associate’s degree. 

Graduation rates at TIDE Academy are extremely high, but just over half of the students graduate with the A-G requirements to attend a public four-year college in California. Although trustees raised concern over this metric, Jesus C. said, “those numbers don’t capture growth, stability, or reengagement,” of vulnerable students. 

Of the 67 students that graduated last year, 34 went to a four-year university and 21 continued on to a two-year college. Eighty-two percent of the graduates went on to higher education; other postgrad plans included military, gap years, entrepreneurial endeavors and more, Rick-Kenney said. 

“This school was never meant to be measured by a single metric or compared directly to comprehensive campuses,” Jesus C. said. “The data should be used to strengthen what’s working, not close a school that provides a level of support for students that we cannot find anywhere else.”

Enrollment numbers, cost

Student success rates were not any rationale to evaluate the school, district leaders affirmed. 

Enrollment numbers and per pupil expenditures, instead, have been pointed to as the reason TIDE was the focus of a potential closure. 

However, data presented Monday evening and discussion by the board suggested that TIDE’s program costs would be largely the same whether 100 students are enrolled, or the maximum capacity of 300. 

Trustee Sathvik Nori questioned what the thinking was behind the program when it opened, then, if costs to operate were always going to result in overage. Bonnie Hansen, associate superintendent of Human Resources and Student Services, said she didn’t have the answer, but added the district simply had more money to spend on the school back then. 

Unique costs associated with TIDE include a transportation program, which buses students farther from campus into the area. 

The cost of this is estimated at $350,000 a year, but this money wouldn’t be saved should TIDE be absorbed into Woodside High School, Trustee Maria Cruz clarified. Likely, the bus option would remain available for students, considering Woodside is on the opposite side of district bounds from TIDE’s campus in Menlo Park. 

The district has not confirmed an amount of money it would save by closing TIDE Academy. 

Other ways the district is attempting to address any fiscal concern is by not filling any vacant administrative positions or creating new ones, Leach said. 

The Board of Trustees will decide at a meeting Feb. 4 what the future of TIDE Academy will be. 

“None of us would ever choose to close a school if there was any reasonable alternative,” board President Amy Koo said.