Legacy Learning welcomes visually, auditorily impaired Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind students | News

Private education institution Legacy Learning Community is slated to open a new Tucson campus in Fall 2026 — welcoming special education students, as well as students with visual and auditory impairments. Following the announcement of the closure and relocation of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB), Legacy Learning Executive Director Mary Kline said the community is excited to invite children and their families into a “student-centered, welcoming community.” 

“We hope that we can open a campus where students feel safe, where students want to come to school and a place where it’s a very calm, welcoming environment for parents and community partners alike,” Kline said. “We know that we’re helping these families and the growth we see in our students is absolutely remarkable.”

The Legacy Learning Community’s new campus will be located in South Oro Valley, joining its two other locations in White Mountains and Concho, as well as the organization’s virtual learning programs. The building will feature four, 600-square-foot classrooms, a kitchen, restrooms and both indoor and outdoor play areas, of course.

 Focusing on Kindergarten through 12th grade students with special needs, auditory and visual impairments and other disabilities, the South Oro Valley campus is hiring and training educators to best assist youth in any and all areas they may need individualized support, Kline said. For the executive director, one of the institution’s practices that sets its educational experience apart from other schools is the intensity with which it trains its teachers and the specialization of its staff.  

According to Kline, Legacy Learning is currently searching for a director for the South Oro Valley campus and has received many, highly qualified applicants across various roles.  

For its students who receive speech therapy through the Department of Developmental Disabilities, Kline said the schools welcome those professionals into the building to continue supporting the children they work with. 

Carrying similar structure and organization from its other campuses, also specializing in special education, the new campus will accommodate between 30 and 40 students — which the executive director explained is key for delivering the best educational experience Legacy Learning can offer. 

“When we have 30, 40 or 50 students, we can truly accommodate and personalize instruction for the students and it’s easier to make connections and establish partnerships with families, as well,” she said. 

Currently, the White Mountains campus plans to welcome 50 students for the upcoming school year, where the Concho campus will welcome 15. Classroom structure on the new campus, Kline explained, will be tailored to students’ needs. She said that some classrooms may include eight students and one teacher, five students and three staff and other configurations that will create the right environment for learning and growth.

Moving forward, Kline said that the Legacy Learning Community is planning to partner with families and local school districts to fine tune the experience for students at the South Oro Valley campus. She said that when the organization learned of the situation with ASDB, it began reaching out to various superintendents, watching and reviewing board meetings and gathering as much information as possible to determine how it could support the students. Some school districts, Kline said, pay tuition for their students with special needs to attend Legacy Learning. Otherwise, the institution also offers its Empowerment Scholarship to students to promote accessibility to a quality education. 

“There’s never any cost to our families for tuition or van transportation,” Kline said. “We don’t believe socio-economic status should determine which students get to go to a small, specialized school and which students may not be able to afford that.” 

Enrollment for the South Oro Valley campus is currently open and is accessible at legacylearningcommunity.org. 

With its third campus opening in the fall to neurodiverse students and students with visual and auditory impairments, Kline said that she hopes the incoming learners and their families will love Legacy Learning Community as much as she does. 

“What I love about working here is the relationships we build with our families and the staff who truly love coming to work as much as I do,” she said. “Please come visit, ask your questions and let’s see whether Legacy Learning Community is where you want your students — tell us what we can do better.”