The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) 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. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.

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 (IDEA).

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.”

The Department of Education appointed a “special monitor to oversee implementation of all corrective actions,” the letter says.

ASDB, which moved the deaf and hard of hearing students to a vacated Oro Valley elementary school earlier this month, has until Aug. 28 to respond to the state, the letter says.

“The state findings mean a victory for us. I think it’s a little bit of validation,” said Derrall Peach, dad of fourth-grader Nani Peach, who has a visual impairment and has autism. “We’ve been going and fighting this for six months.”

ASDB Policy and Government Relations Director Maria Murphy told Arizona Luminaria via email, it is reviewing the report findings “with legal counsel to determine the feasible next steps.”

Families of the displaced students filed a lawsuit in February to delay the school closure. A Pima County Superior Court judge denied that request.

In May, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s Education Advocacy Clinic worked with families to file a complaint with the state. The clinic, which usually has about nine students, provides free legal help and works to support students’ rights in area schools by providing legal representation in school discipline and special education matters.

The redacted investigative report within the letter documents some ASDB student and family experiences as each student was evaluated for their Individual Education Program (IEP). That IEP is crucial for any student with special needs. Usually evaluated yearly, it is a written document for public school students who qualify for special services. It outlines student needs and goals and the support and instruction a school will provide.

Parents, therapists, counselors and teachers were also in these meetings with ASDB representatives and the student’s home district. The UA clinic observed families were not told all the options under the law.

“IEP teams are supposed to consider a full continuum of services to determine where to serve a student,” said UA Associate Clinical Professor of Law Diana Newmark, the clinic’s director.

“But in this case, parents were going into meetings being told essentially ‘You don’t get the full menu. You don’t get all of the options that should be on the table,’” she told Arizona Luminaria. “’We decided we’re sending you back to the school district. A specialized school like ASDB is just not one of your options. And it’s very clear under special education law that’s not the way that these decisions are supposed to be made.

“It’s abundantly clear under the law that the decision should be driven by the students’ individual characteristics and their individual need. It should not be driven by programmatic decisions, administrative choices and so on.”

The state says ASDB must re-examine the cases.