US News

The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind violated federal disability law last spring when it restricted placement options for students and predetermined where they should attend, the Arizona State Department of Education says. As it prepared to shut its west-side Tucson campus and move 15 miles away to Oro Valley, ASDB told its blind and low-vision students, along with those who lived in ASDB’s school dorms, they must attend a school within their home district starting in the 2026-27 school year. In a July 10 letter to ASDB Superintendent Annette Reichman, the state says families were not given all the options for where to place their students this coming school year, and that ASDB did not comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. According to the letter, the department of education “concludes that (ASDB) predetermined the placement of students and similarly situated students who are blind, visually impaired or receiving residential services for the 2026-27 school year in violation of the regulations that implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.”…