Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind has welcomed students to its new Oro Valley campus.
Students started classes Monday, Aug. 3 on the former grounds of Copper Creek Elementary in the Amphitheater School District.
“We are excited to welcome students to our new campus,” said Annette Reichman, superintendent of ASDB, in a news release. “The opening of ASDB Oro Valley provides a safer, modern learning environment which will help us provide the best education opportunities available to the students we serve.”
Copper Creek was scheduled to close at the end of the 2025-2026 school year as part of the district’s response to declining enrollment, but ASDB struck a deal with Amphitheater to lease the school.
“While we were sad to leave our Tucson campus, ASDB Oro Valley allows us to enhance our instruction methods and maintain tighter security for our students,” Reichman said in the release. “We look forward to becoming an integral part of the community and providing opportunities for our students to reach their goals.”
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Earlier this year, the district faced backlash after announcing plans to relocate its deaf and hard-of-hearing programs to the new campus, and to close its longtime residential campus on West Speedway.
Under the transition, blind and visually impaired students were to be integrated into local public school districts.
Last month, the Arizona Department of Education found the schools violated federal special education law in displacing those students. As a consequence, ADE 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.”
A sign at the former site of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind at 1200 W. Speedway.
