TIDE community shows up at the district meeting

For Andromeda Garcelon, a TIDE Academy parent, the school has allowed for underserved populations to access critical technological education, which is the driving economic force of the Bay Area. Closing the school that has had successful outcomes doesn’t make sense, she said.

“TIDE has hit all the benchmarks the district is setting out to do,” Garcelon said. 

The school serves a very unique population. Nearly 60% of students are Latino, and 40% are designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged. One in 5 students have a documented disability and have individualized education plans.  

At the board meeting, Superintendent Crystal Leach presented a possible plan for communication as the district considers the possibility of closing the campus — which includes two community meetings in January and a study session at the board’s meeting Jan. 26, which is open to the public. 

Many who spoke during public comment wished the possible closure wasn’t a consideration at all.

Kathryn Todd, a parent of a neurodivergent eighth grader, shared she was excited about the opportunity of her child attending TIDE Academy and is now “heartbroken” that it may not be an option. Many public commenters were parents in similar situations, disappointed that the small school may not be available for their children. 

TIDE Academy opened in August 2019 to a class of approximately 100 ninth graders. It’s located in Menlo Park, and largely serves students living in East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks and Belle Haven. 

“These are communities that have, as a result of redlining, historically experienced the highest disparities in educational outcomes,” Cat Cole, a teacher at TIDE, said during public comment. “When I joined the planning team for TIDE in 2018 … part of the vision was to disrupt historic patterns and draw students across the 101 freeway from west to east, instead of east to west.” 

The school was made possible in large part by a $265 million bond measure voters approved in 2014. Closing a school built with funds from that 2014 measure raised concerns from multiple members of the public who felt it threatens public trust in the district. 

“It’s very disappointing as a taxpayer in East Palo Alto to have had these small schools locally funded and then to lose them. It would be very disappointed to lose that $50 million capital expense,” Drake Diedrich, a parent of two who recently decided to attend TIDE Academy, said. 

At a board meeting Nov. 13, closing TIDE Academy was proposed by trustees Mary Beth Thompson and Rich Ginn who felt it may be in the district’s best financial interest to do so. 

“The problem is not enough people have been choosing this school,” Ginn said Wednesday. 

Class sizes at TIDE Academy are particularly small. Most classes have approximately 20 students but some shrink to as small as five students. While the school always intended to be small, Thompson said she wasn’t sure it was supposed to be “this small.”

Ginn noted that the highest cost of a school is its personnel. While low student to teacher ratios are a plus for those in the classroom, and a big draw for many families interested in TIDE, that small ratio costs more than a bigger class size. 

The district is anticipating an unsustainable budget deficit in the coming years, trustees said, which prompted the discussion of closing TIDE Academy, trustees said. However, trustees Stavhik Nori and Maria Cruz both said they hope the district, rather than simply discussing TIDE’s closure, has a larger conversation about increasing TIDE’s enrollment numbers and saving money elsewhere. 

Andromeda, who is also the president of the education foundation at TIDE Academy, said she knows parents are ready to advocate on behalf of their school and do all they can to get enrollment numbers up. Parents of prospective students are “in the fight with us,” she said. 

Ironically, parents of eighth graders have until Feb. 1 to apply to join TIDE Academy — three days before the Board of Trustees is slated to decide whether it will close the school. 

“I don’t know how we increase enrollment when this whole process is during enrollment season,” she said. “It’s harder for families to deceive if they want to commit if the district isn’t committed to keeping the school open.” 

Jenny Bloom, a trustee from the Ravenswood Elementary School District which feeds into the high school district, said trustees must “think about what the intention was behind opening TIDE” and invest in students who thrive in TIDE’s environment. 

“You all have a responsibility to fiscally be responsible for all of the schools in your community, but also that your schools in your community are meeting the needs of your students,” Bloom said. 

The community meetings will be held Jan. 13 and Jan. 15, and the Board of Trustees will host a study session on the topic Jan. 26. The board must make a decision whether it is closing the school in February.