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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

Filipino

Hakka

Hindi

Kurdi

Swedish

Bosnian

Gujarati

Pashto

Laomong

Polish

Greek

Dutch

Italian

Sennheiser hearing assistance devices

Marshallese

Fujianese

Bhutanese

Samoan

Fijian

Lao

Amharic

Gikuyu

Tigrigna

Spanish

Bicol

Serbian

Hungarian

Burmese

Tamil

Urdu

Kannada

Hawaiian

Serbo-Croatian

Afghan

French

Multi-lingual materials

Bengali

Bulgarian

Czech

Cambodian

Tongan

Dari

Mien

Pangasinan

Vietnamese

Braille

Farsi

Punjabi

Toishanese

Large-print materials

Ilocano

Hebrew

Cantonese

Waray

Taiwanese

Arabic

Malay

Mongolian

Mandarin

Hmong

Cham

Swahili

Khmu

Telugu

Savji

Khmer

Moldavian

Thai

Russian

Latvian

Asian languages

Audio materials

Shanghainese

Xhosa

Native American languages

Croatian

Japanese

Somali

Nepali

Korean

Romanian

Laotian

Teochew

Turkish

American Sign Language

Zomi

Portuguese

Indonesian

Wolof

Eritrean

Tagalog

Ukrainian

German

Oromiffa

Cebuano

Mon

Interpreter services

Dholuo

Armenian

Karenni

Oromo

Marathi

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