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Conflict Resolution offered by Office of the Education Ombuds

Helps resolve disputes, complaints and conflict between families and schools through facilitation.   Acts as a confidential, neutral third party not associated with the public school system.   Promotes school-family partnerships and provides information about the education system and referrals to education-related resources.   Helps parents concerned about a child being bullied at school.   Provides workshops and presentations and publishes materials designed to help families understand and navigate the K-12 education system.   Publications can be downloaded from the website or mailed.   Publications are translated into several languages.   The Education Ombudsman does not help with issues regarding:   -  Elected officials (such as school board members)   -  Private schools   -  Private organizations or businesses   -  Preschools, colleges and universities   Does not have the authority to force a school or school district to take a specific course of action and cannot discipline or terminate school or school district employees.   Does not provide legal advice or services.

Physical Address

Hours

M Th, 9:30am-5:30pm Tu W, 8am-6pm.

Application process

Call for information or to schedule an appointment with an ombudsman for consultation.   Visit the website for more information and free publications.

Fee

None.

Eligibility

Parents, legal guardians, family members or students enrolled or eligible to be enrolled in the K-12 public school system in Washington state.

Languages

Samoan

Moldavian

Japanese

Italian

Cambodian

Korean

Urdu

Asian languages

Turkish

Xhosa

Bulgarian

Cham

Gikuyu

Cebuano

Laotian

Braille

Marathi

Tagalog

Czech

Thai

Toishanese

Khmer

Portuguese

Dholuo

Somali

Wolof

Hebrew

Bicol

Ukrainian

Dutch

Laomong

Mongolian

Mien

Marshallese

Fujianese

Audio materials

Interpreter services

Bengali

Tigrigna

Kannada

Savji

Telugu

Karenni

Large-print materials

Hakka

Hungarian

Nepali

Russian

Swedish

Burmese

Farsi

Ilocano

Indonesian

Afghan

Polish

Lao

Vietnamese

Dari

French

Mon

Oromiffa

Hmong

Pashto

Amharic

Eritrean

Latvian

Native American languages

Oromo

German

Romanian

Pangasinan

Sennheiser hearing assistance devices

Multi-lingual materials

Shanghainese

Fijian

Serbian

Armenian

Bhutanese

Cantonese

Swahili

Filipino

Waray

Mandarin

Greek

Zomi

Punjabi

Tongan

Malay

American Sign Language

Spanish

Hawaiian

Bosnian

Gujarati

Tamil

Hindi

Serbo-Croatian

Taiwanese

Teochew

Arabic

Khmu

Kurdi

Croatian

Service area

WA

Agency info

Office of the Education Ombuds

Listens to concerns and address questions about the K-12 public education system; Uses informal conflict resolution tools to support collaborative problem-solving and promote education justice; Provides coaching, facilitation, and training about family and community engagement and systems advocacy; Collects data and identifies trends to guide our education policy recommendations. OEO assists anyone with questions or concerns about Washington’s K-12 public schools by providing information, referrals, toolkits, and other resources. OEO’s legislative mission is to reduce opportunity gaps. OEO's strategic plan priorities concentrate on education justice, especially for communities most affected by COVID-19. OEO is focusing its limited conflict resolution resources, such as informal mediation and coaching, on K-12 students who are: • Out of school, including students with disabilities receiving partial school days • People of color, Black, or indigenous • Experiencing homelessness • In kinship or foster care • Involved with the juvenile justice or juvenile rehabilitation systems • Immigrant, refugee, asylee, or migrant, or students or families whose primary language(s) is not English, or • Receiving Wraparound with Intensive Services (WISe) or Children’s Long Term Inpatient Programs (CLIP) supports