Complaint Filed by Arizona Law’s Education Advocacy Clinic Prompts State-Ordered Corrective Action Ahead of Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind’s Move

The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has found the Arizona State School for the Deaf and the Blind (ASBD) violated federal special education law, following a complaint filed by the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s Education Advocacy Clinic.  

Earlier this year, ASDB announced that it would be closing its Tucson campus and relocating to a new site in Oro Valley.  Families soon learned that not all students would be able to transfer to the new campus, as the new location will serve primarily deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Students at ASDB who were blind, visually impaired, or in the residential program were told they would be sent back to their home districts, the same districts that referred them to ASDB because they could not meet the students’ educational needs. 

Under the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA), a student’s educational placement must be decided by an educational team including the student’s parent, who considers a range of options such as general education or resource classes, specialized schools, or in some cases other more supportive or unique environments. The placement decision must be based on the student’s individual needs. 

“This was not happening for the children who were blind, visually impaired, or part of the residential program at ASDB. Before the student’s team even held a meeting, the outcome was a foregone conclusion,” says Director of the Education Advocacy Clinic Diana Newmark. “A campus-based program for blind and visually impaired students, or for residential students, was simply not going to be an option, no matter what information the student’s parents or teachers could provide.” 

The Clinic, which provides free legal services to children in Tucson-area K-12 schools, began working with affected ASDB families in January. Clinic students spent the semester meeting with families, attending meetings, and researching the case before filing a systemic complaint with ADE in May, alleging ASDB’s process violated federal and state law.  

ADE’s investigation confirmed the violation, finding that ASDB predetermined student placements rather than making individualized decisions grounded in each child’s needs. In its findings, ADE stated that placement decisions cannot be made based on administrative convenience, program availability, funding or agency-wide policy determinations. 

As a result of the complaint, ADE has appointed a special monitor to oversee ASDB’s compliance and has ordered the school to consider the full range of placement options for the affected students by August 28.  

“This is a huge win for families at ASDB, and our hope is that the corrective action spurs real change to serve this population of students both now and moving forward,” says Newmark.   

It remains unclear how ASDB will respond or whether they will open their doors of the new campus to this population of students, but it does mean real options for families must be on the table, rather than simply sending the students back to the districts that were unable to serve them in the first place. 

“The reality is a lot of the children in these programs have a very high level of need and require specialized care and support,” adds Newmark. “Our hope is that those specialized programs are available to all the kids that need them.”