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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

Korean

Mongolian

Dutch

Mien

Laotian

Toishanese

German

Karenni

Swahili

Cantonese

Hebrew

Fujianese

Filipino

Cebuano

Serbian

Shanghainese

Russian

Romanian

Bengali

Telugu

Audio materials

Latvian

Native American languages

Gujarati

Serbo-Croatian

Amharic

Japanese

Italian

Khmu

Bhutanese

Nepali

Pashto

Hindi

Turkish

Interpreter services

American Sign Language

Hakka

Greek

Czech

Oromiffa

Farsi

Hmong

Afghan

Punjabi

Cambodian

Multi-lingual materials

Dholuo

Tigrigna

Gikuyu

Laomong

Hungarian

Taiwanese

Ilocano

Cham

Tongan

Eritrean

Sennheiser hearing assistance devices

Khmer

Vietnamese

Burmese

Mon

Lao

Arabic

Kurdi

Teochew

Polish

Savji

Samoan

Tagalog

Mandarin

French

Bulgarian

Waray

Tamil

Urdu

Moldavian

Swedish

Oromo

Portuguese

Bosnian

Spanish

Malay

Braille

Bicol

Large-print materials

Somali

Asian languages

Hawaiian

Fijian

Marshallese

Marathi

Pangasinan

Indonesian

Thai

Ukrainian

Armenian

Croatian

Wolof

Kannada

Xhosa

Dari

Zomi

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