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.
Categories
Voice
Website
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.
Eligibility
Parents, legal guardians, family members or students enrolled or eligible to be enrolled in the K-12 public school system in Washington state.
Fee
None.
Languages
Teochew
Eritrean
Dari
Multi-lingual materials
Serbian
Bicol
Kannada
Marshallese
Sennheiser hearing assistance devices
Lao
Dholuo
Swahili
Ilocano
Pangasinan
Karenni
Tamil
Punjabi
Dutch
Cambodian
Pashto
Laomong
Oromiffa
Greek
Polish
Farsi
Interpreter services
Tigrigna
Amharic
Mon
Croatian
French
Oromo
Khmu
Moldavian
Ukrainian
Hindi
Telugu
Tongan
Somali
Urdu
Native American languages
Kurdi
Serbo-Croatian
Savji
Swedish
Waray
American Sign Language
Toishanese
Gikuyu
Hmong
Arabic
Shanghainese
Braille
Taiwanese
Filipino
Afghan
Gujarati
Vietnamese
Khmer
Latvian
Hebrew
Czech
Samoan
Fujianese
Fijian
Portuguese
Japanese
Italian
Tagalog
Xhosa
Russian
Indonesian
Hawaiian
Wolof
Spanish
Bengali
Thai
Cham
Bulgarian
Hakka
Hungarian
Cantonese
Mandarin
Bosnian
Laotian
Turkish
German
Cebuano
Korean
Large-print materials
Audio materials
Armenian
Marathi
Bhutanese
Asian languages
Malay
Nepali
Burmese
Zomi
Mongolian
Romanian
Mien
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