A skylight illuminates a part of TIDE Academy, which was designed by LPA Design Studios design director Helen Pierce, on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Menlo Park, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Parents of students with disabilities at TIDE Academy in Menlo Park are asking a federal judge to block the Sequoia Union High School District from shutting down the campus, arguing the move would unlawfully harm students who rely on its small, specialized environment.
The parent group is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the district from closing the school, terminating staff or transferring students without consent while a lawsuit over the pending closure moves forward.
A hearing is set for Thursday before U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson.
Tide Rising, a parent-led group, filed suit last month alleging the closure — approved by the school board unanimously early February — violates federal anti-discrimination laws and would cause “irreparable harm” to students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.
Opened in 2019 with at least $50 million in bond funds, TIDE Academy is a science, technology, engineering and mathematics-focused high school built to serve 400 students but now enrolling about 200, down from 242 in 2022-23.
Citing a widening budget deficit, the school board voted Feb. 4 to cease operations at TIDE by June 30 and move students to Woodside High School for the 2026-27 school year. District officials say the closure would help bridge a $6 million deficit projected by the end of the school year.
Nearly 37% of TIDE’s roughly 200 students have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a 504 plan — more than double the rate at other Sequoia Union district campuses, according to parents. An IEP provides specialized instruction and learning goals for students with disabilities that affect their academic performance. A 504 plan offers formal accommodations — such as extra time on exams or physical adjustments to a classroom — to ensure students with disabilities have equal access to learning.
Without TIDE’s smaller environment, parents argue, those plans are little more than paperwork.
Many students live with severe anxiety, autism or ADHD and struggle in large comprehensive high schools, parents say. Moving them to a campus of about 2,000 students would “demolish” the access they need to learn and could trigger academic and social regression. TIDE’s graduation rate is close to 100%, according to the lawsuit.
Parents also argue the closure raises equity concerns.
TIDE is Sequoia Union High School District’s only high school east of Highway 101 in San Mateo County, serving communities generally considered less affluent than those west of the freeway in one of the most expensive counties in the country.
Sequoia Union is one of dozens of Bay Area school districts grappling with budget deficits and declining enrollment.
In Antioch, officials last month approved a preliminary plan to lay off about 300 full-time positions. Last week, the Oakland Unified School District board voted to eliminate hundreds of positions to close a $102 million budget gap. Meanwhile, San Jose’s school board unveiled a plan last month to shutter at least nine elementary schools, a majority of which serve higher concentrations of Hispanic or Latino students in lower-income areas.
The lawsuit contends the district’s approach crosses a legal line. It claims officials never individually evaluated students with disabilities before voting to close the school or consulted families to determine whether another campus could meet their child’s needs.
At the heart of the case is a legal question: whether federal disability law protects a student’s specific school placement, or simply guarantees services regardless of campus.
District officials dispute the parents’ claims.
In court filings, the Sequoia Union High School District argues that a student’s legal right to services follows the student, not the building. IEP and 504 supports are “portable,” the district said in its filing, and will remain in place regardless of campus. The district said it plans to meet individually with families ahead of the Aug. 12, 2026, start date to develop transition plans and assign or hire staff as needed.
The district also contends TIDE was designed as a general education alternative, not a specialized or therapeutic school, and that federal disability laws do not give parents the right to dictate school placement or block a what it characterizes as a neutral school consolidation decision.
A district spokesperson declined further comment on the lawsuit. In court filings opposing the restraining order, the district maintained that closing TIDE is necessary to address budget gaps, noting it spends about $39,000 per student at the school — roughly double the per-pupil cost at its other high schools.
TIDE parents challenge that narrative.
In public meetings and in their complaint, they argue the district’s financial projections are selective and note it holds a “Positive Certification” from the state, meaning it is considered financially stable for at least the next three years.
They also call the projected savings from closing TIDE “illusory,” citing a district study session in which staff acknowledged that special education costs would shift to other campuses rather than disappear.
Eliminating eight central office positions would save roughly $2.5 million — the same amount the district expects to save by closing the school — according to district data cited in the lawsuit.
Jason Primuth, a Menlo Park parent whose child attends TIDE, said the case is about accountability.
“We’re attending board meetings, filing additional requests for information and ensuring the District doesn’t use these same tactics against other vulnerable groups,” Primuth said. “Taxpayers can absolutely email the Board of Trustees and ask why the District is shutting down a school that cost $65 million to build after six years … because taxpayers will be paying for this for decades.”
Originally published at Ryan Macasero