Is my Class A still valid?

I held my Class A CDL for 4 years.When I quit driving commercial, I checked with my local dmv in Arizona. I had the understanding that I needed to downgrade my license from class a to class d. Dingbat there tells me all I had to do was not go to my next dot physical and it would downgrade automatically.
Never been suspended nor revoked. Keep in mind that an Arizona CDL doesn't expire for 8 years.
Now, 18 months later, in Ohio, and I'm ready to get it again.
I ask at the bmv here, since it's never been suspended, shouldn't I be able to upgrade as easily as I had downgraded? I got the dot med card.
She says it's up to Arizona. The cdl schools (the 1s that I would have to pay) are telling me that I have no choice but to complete the 160 hours of school again.
But when I spoke with a recruiter at Roehl, (Roehl pays the student for taking their courses), she agrees that by all means, it should be reinstated.
Any idea where I should look into this? I still know the driver's license number . Highly curious. Thank you.