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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

Bengali

Amharic

Karenni

Dari

Khmer

Gujarati

Laotian

Mien

Dutch

Tagalog

Burmese

Nepali

Cambodian

Serbo-Croatian

Romanian

Cham

Multi-lingual materials

Cebuano

American Sign Language

Italian

Hungarian

Hindi

Dholuo

Bosnian

Hawaiian

Telugu

Marshallese

Savji

Turkish

Tamil

Tongan

Hebrew

Audio materials

Afghan

Armenian

Portuguese

Samoan

Native American languages

Oromo

Ukrainian

Japanese

Waray

Mandarin

Punjabi

Zomi

Wolof

Oromiffa

Hmong

Spanish

Russian

Latvian

Gikuyu

Kurdi

Arabic

French

Indonesian

Mon

Toishanese

Xhosa

Shanghainese

Fijian

Czech

Teochew

Serbian

Croatian

Fujianese

Malay

Farsi

Bicol

Bhutanese

Kannada

Large-print materials

Sennheiser hearing assistance devices

Hakka

Braille

Bulgarian

Urdu

Taiwanese

Filipino

Swahili

Moldavian

German

Swedish

Tigrigna

Greek

Asian languages

Khmu

Korean

Interpreter services

Cantonese

Marathi

Polish

Lao

Vietnamese

Laomong

Mongolian

Ilocano

Eritrean

Thai

Somali

Pangasinan

Pashto

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