This web story has been updated with correct information on Liza Smith's children. They are solely deaf, not both deaf and visually impaired.
Since Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind Superintendent Anette Reichman announced the closure of the historic Tucson campus in January, parents and staff have questioned the district’s hasty decision-making and continue to do so as they brace for relocation this summer.
Lisa Furr is a 1984 alumna of the school and a former employee. She’s addressed the ASDB Governing Board in the last few months asking that it carefully considers the effects of relocating and downsizing on students.
“We have very deep roots in the community. It is home for many of us, for deaf and blind children who have been through the programs,” Furr told AZPM.
The district cites a combination of budget shortfalls, low enrollment and deteriorating buildings on the 56-acre campus as the reasons for closing the current campus. Parents and employees have criticized the decision to move blind and low vision students to cooperative sites in the Tucson Unified School District as their deaf and hard of hearing peers move on to the new Oro Valley campus.
They’ve also expressed frustration over the district communications, as they say their children’s future is on the line. Liza Smith is a parent of three deaf students.
“The big concern for them is: Are they going to make friends there? Are there going to be teachers going? I know a lot of staff — they are in the process of laying staff off, so I’m not sure if my kids are going to see the same teachers they recognize,” Smith said.
The campus is set to relocate to Oro Valley this summer. In less than 30 days, the governing board will vote on a proposal to cap incoming teacher salaries at just under $66,000.
Audio Transcript
Steve Jess What got you interested in reporting this story in January?
Thatcher Warrick Hess I think it was in mid-January. There was an ASB board meeting and then a community meeting. When I saw the videos of the frustration from the deaf and blind community who were there, who wanted to answer questions about what was happening with the recent news of leaving the campus that's been there for over 100 years. I think seeing those visuals of people that were not giving equity and access, I think, for me was immediately like, okay, where, where can this go?
Steve And this campus is a well known location in Tucson, and I imagine it's something that a lot of members of the deaf and blind community and their families are invested in. That's their school.
Noor Haghighi Yeah, absolutely. It's a campus that's been around for more than 100 years in Tucson. Hundreds of students from rural communities, from the metropolitan areas come here because it's centered around education for the deaf and blind community. It's the only one of the only specialized schools in in Arizona for that purpose. So I know a lot of, people from indigenous communities also came to Tucson to stay in the dorms. They had dorms. That's another thing that's going away.
Steve Where does the school plan for students to live if they're not from the Tucson community and they're commuting in here?
Noor That's an unknown.
Thatcher Yeah.
Steve So what stood out to you based on the communication from the school for the Deaf and Blind over this whole period?
Thatcher I think specifically, it really was not being transparent with the public and also the staff and the enrolled students. We spoke to a mother of three deaf and, blind kids who they don't know where they're going to go. You know, she's asked them, how do you feel about this new campus at Copper Creek Elementary, which again, is 15 miles away from where they're they're currently, you know, learning. And so I think it's just that difficulty of if parents don't even know how to communicate what's going on because they're superintendent of the school. And that Reichman is not being very transparent.
Steve And let's back up to the beginning here. Why is it that the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind has to relocate in the first place?
Noor The district has said they're at a tipping point. They're in their third year in a budget deficit. They're projecting a $3.3 million deficit for this fiscal year ending 2027. They've already tried things like hiring freezes, cutting extracurricular programs. Their human resources department is also proposing, cuts for incoming teachers. That would cap salaries and wages at just ten years of teaching experience rather than the current 25 years. And that would mean a teacher with a Ph.D. who has worked for at least ten years, would be making no more than $66,000. That's one of the ways that they're trying to mitigate the budget crisis. Another is that the current Tucson campus is 56 acres. The average age of the buildings is around 50 years. So they're deteriorating. And the school with the budget deficit is having an issue, keeping up with the operations costs and also a huge declining enrollment. Right now it's only at about 115 students, whereas at the peak, ASB enrolled somewhere around 380 students.
Steve Is this because, like with other school districts, deaf and visually impaired students are finding charter schools or homeschool options or other options that are not part of the public school system?
Noor Yeah, a big piece of it that superintendent Annette Reichman has reiterated is actually the decline in birth rate in Pima County. I'd been covering the the amphi school closures and a big piece of that. The reasoning there was also this decline in birth rate in Pima County. At ASB, they haven't necessarily attributed this enrollment decline to vouchers. Even though we see thousands of students, redirecting their education to private schools because the state is giving them the money to do it. No matter. No matter their ability or financial situation.
Steve How is the deaf and blind community, and particularly the students at ASB reacting to the relocation? But also the plan to educate deaf students in one location and and blind or visually impaired at another?
Thatcher I think they're quite, quite frustrated. I think the biggest thing is the confusion of the most kind of recent development. I think it was on February 16th when the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind essentially called these sites cooperative sites, which would essentially the Tucson Unified School District.
Thatcher Different schools there would be for the blind students, and then the deaf students would be moving to Copper Creek and so separated from their, their peers that they'd been, enrolled with and studying with at, at the current campus. So I think that recent language and how that's being used has, has also created more confusion of how are these cooperative sites going to work?
Within the next year, as in this, this will all start in August of of 2026 for that that semester. So it's just from now until then, how is that going to work? And we still don't really have answers.
Noor We've seen a lot of staff and parents and alumni rally around that group of blind students, blind and low vision students, especially, some have called it segregation. Some have gone that far to call it segregation. And the district's reasoning for separating the students is that next year, they project about 20 to 25 students in the low vision program to be enrolled. So they feel the better use of funds would be to house them in classrooms in Pueblo High School and another middle school.
Steve What I'm hearing is this is a fairly small cohort of students who have a lot in common, and basically they're being broken up and that's upsetting.
Noor Yeah, absolutely. Some parents have said they're worried about bullying in the public schools where, these students are surrounded by their, regular education peers. Whereas they came to ASDB for the reason of safety and community and to be seen and heard.
Steve The people who are fighting this, the parents, the students themselves, other community members. What is their end goal? Would they like to stop the relocation or caused the relocation? If if the relocation has to happen? Have the students all educated together instead of separated? What what would they be satisfied with?
Noor As far as we know, there's kind of no going back because the board has voted to relocate this summer. But even beyond the decision of separating the students and relocating 15 miles away, a huge concern has been the timing of this and the lack of timely communication with community.
There's been a lack of discussion and asking for feedback. And even board members have shown concern over that. One ASDB governing board member from Tucson even resigned over the issue of this lack of discussion and quick decision making. And as someone who has covered the Amphi school closures, I am seeing a lot of parallels here with parents losing trust with their school districts and even considering moving their students to different districts over this lack of transparency and, what they feel has not included them.
Steve One of the issues with the school for the Deaf and Blind is that people think they're not being seen and not being heard.
Noor Quite literally.
Thatcher Yeah. And I think it even goes to that question of parents even filed a lawsuit against the school. And I think having that, even though I don't think anything has developed from that, still having that pressure from different organizations sending letters to the school saying, we want to have meetings, you want Reichman to have communication with us is still kind of an ongoing battle.
Thatcher And I think that's kind of the biggest thing, is what are the results going to happen with those specific meetings if they ever do happen, if the communication ever does?
Steve Noor, Thatcher. Thank you both for talking with me.
Thatcher Thank you.
Noor Thank you Steve.
