Members of the Arkansas Senate Committee on Education voted unanimously Monday to advance a bill to merge the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired with the Arkansas School for the Deaf.
The schools are separate educational institutions on the same Little Rock property with a street in between. Built decades ago, the facilities for both schools have been in structural decay. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced plans to remodel the property, which included combining the two schools, in February of last year.
The bill was presented in committee Monday by Rep. Joey Carr, R-Blytheville. He explained the bill would allow the schools to share “centralized services,” while also creating separate wings for the two institutions.
Public comment from alumni, parents, board members and staff was largely supportive of the plan.
Opposition came from the Arkansas Association of the Deaf. The outside group is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the decision. In court documents, they cite a December 2023 social media survey they said violated American disability law — specifically, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The survey did not have audio translation or American Sign Language interpretation.
Plaintiffs are asking for a court order to halt the merger until the survey can be done again with accommodations.
Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said, though he couldn't comment on specifics, the state made several efforts to include the public.
“I am of the strong opinion that we have been very clear and very transparent about our intentions for this campus, for at least a year,” he said.
Oliva was joined by staff and faculty members of the schools. Nicole Walsh, the superintendent of the Arkansas School for the Deaf, said she had “only positive” things to say about the merger, adding they've held 30 stakeholder meetings.
Walsh said about 17% of students meet the criteria of being both deaf and blind. She says these students would be better served under the new model, and that services would be more accessible with the merger. For example, the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired offers Advanced Placement classes, while the School for the Deaf does not. The new model would open AP classes up to all students.
The lawsuit also objects to language in the bill to remove a requirement for deaf persons to serve on the school board. Walsh said the language is being updated to be more clear and accurate.
KaAnn Varner, the School for the Deaf's primary school principal, voiced support for the plan, along with ASBVI principal Lori Cole and interim superintendent Chris Barnes. Several board members and two mothers of disabled children also spoke in favor.
Mother and former teacher Christine Stracener became emotional speaking on the bill. Her daughter is a student at ASBVI, but she also has hearing issues which she thinks would be well served by combining the schools.
“It makes me cry as a mother,” she said. “It makes me cry as an educator, the things that could be combined, the money that could be saved.”
Kitsonia Hancock was one of the only members of the public to speak against the merger. She is a deaf woman and the president of the Arkansas Association for the Deaf.
“It violates the principle of 'nothing about us without us,'” she said through an interpreter. “Which is a cornerstone of disability rights.”
Other states have combined their blind and deaf schools, including Mississippi and Alabama. A hearing on the lawsuit challenging the merger will be held in May.
