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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Sequoia Union High School District filed by parents of TIDE Academy students hoping to block the closing of the school.
Northern California District Judge Trina Thompson ruled Monday, April 20, that the parents failed to “plausibly allege” that the closure of TIDE would deny meaningful access to public education which could not be replicated at another school.
The Sequoia Union Board of Trustees unanimously voted on Feb. 4 to close TIDE, a small school in Menlo Park that has a disproportionate number of students with disabilities and who are socioeconomically disadvantaged compared to other district schools. The board said that due to TIDE’s declining enrollment and its budget deficit, it needed to close the 6-year-old school and transfer its programs to Woodside High, which would save Sequoia Union $14 million over four years.
The 200-student school opened in 2019 on a new campus, and parents said teens who struggled at the district’s much larger comprehensive high schools thrived at TIDE.
The district does not know what it will do with TIDE’s $50 million campus at 150 Jefferson Drive that was built for the school using funds from a voter-approved bond in 2014, district Spokesperson Naomi Hunter said Tuesday.
On Feb. 13, a group of parents who called themselves TIDE Rising filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school district alleging that closing the school would discriminate against students with disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act. The parents said that by closing the school, the district is denying disabled students equal education and compared TIDE Academy to a wheelchair ramp for students with neurological conditions.
“The district now proposes to demolish that ramp and scatter these vulnerable students across 2,000-plus student campuses where they cannot function — all under the pretext of financial necessity that the district’s own data does not support,” a memorandum for the lawsuit said.
However, Judge Thompson said that students would still have access to educational programs at the district’s other schools.
“Plaintiffs do not connect any advantages of necessity provided by TIDE which could not be replicated at other schools,” Thompson wrote in her 10 page ruling. “The services necessary to the students with disabilities ability to access a public education, such as students’ IEPs and Section 504 plans, will remain available to students wherever they attend school.”
Individualized Education Programs, known as IEPs, and 504 plans provide accommodations to students with disabilities. The judge previously denied parents’ request for a restraining order preventing the TIDE’s closure while the case was ongoing.
TIDE Rising also alleged that public deliberations to close the school were a farce and that behind closed doors, district leaders had already made their decision.
Thompson said the parents’ other claims were largely irrelevant if there was no plausible violation of the ADA; she dismissed the case outright and said allowing TIDE Rising to amend the complaint would be “futile.”
“We respect the passion that TIDE parents have for their school, and we understand this has been a difficult process for all involved,” Superintendent Crystal Leach said in a press release. “The district, however, has a legal and governance responsibility to act in the best interests of all its students, which includes sound financial stewardship. We are gratified that the court recognized the legal soundness of the board’s decision.”
Representatives of TIDE Rising and their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
