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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.

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

Hawaiian

Laomong

Pashto

Amharic

Waray

Spanish

Lao

Savji

Braille

Toishanese

Wolof

Ilocano

Thai

Polish

Sennheiser hearing assistance devices

American Sign Language

French

Indonesian

Mandarin

Czech

Vietnamese

Cantonese

Hakka

Cebuano

Fujianese

Asian languages

Bulgarian

Hindi

Bengali

Tigrigna

Cham

Afghan

Tongan

Tamil

Urdu

Xhosa

Native American languages

Dholuo

Hmong

Armenian

Swahili

Hungarian

Mongolian

Swedish

Malay

Punjabi

Interpreter services

Shanghainese

Greek

Tagalog

Dutch

Gikuyu

Telugu

Khmu

Pangasinan

Serbian

Bicol

Arabic

Eritrean

Oromo

Cambodian

Korean

Serbo-Croatian

Farsi

Karenni

Marshallese

Dari

Russian

Multi-lingual materials

Samoan

Zomi

Kannada

Kurdi

Fijian

Bosnian

Taiwanese

Nepali

Croatian

Filipino

Marathi

Khmer

Latvian

Hebrew

Gujarati

Portuguese

German

Italian

Romanian

Burmese

Audio materials

Teochew

Somali

Turkish

Japanese

Laotian

Bhutanese

Ukrainian

Mon

Moldavian

Oromiffa

Large-print materials

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