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Conflict Resolution offered by Office of the Education Ombuds

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

Laomong

Afghan

Laotian

Cambodian

Lao

Mien

Russian

Moldavian

Nepali

Romanian

Taiwanese

Pashto

Shanghainese

Bengali

Tongan

Dholuo

Cham

Sennheiser hearing assistance devices

Toishanese

Ilocano

Waray

Hakka

Kurdi

Serbo-Croatian

Eritrean

Tigrigna

Somali

Samoan

Korean

Gikuyu

Mon

Bicol

Bhutanese

Serbian

Cebuano

Native American languages

Karenni

Large-print materials

Marathi

Hawaiian

Swedish

Zomi

Burmese

Ukrainian

Japanese

Savji

German

Spanish

Turkish

Bosnian

Oromiffa

Thai

Bulgarian

Urdu

Audio materials

Tamil

Fijian

Marshallese

Gujarati

Mongolian

Portuguese

Malay

Khmer

Dutch

Amharic

Latvian

Greek

Hmong

Telugu

Arabic

Hebrew

Polish

Tagalog

French

Xhosa

American Sign Language

Indonesian

Asian languages

Hindi

Mandarin

Punjabi

Swahili

Croatian

Cantonese

Interpreter services

Farsi

Khmu

Teochew

Wolof

Multi-lingual materials

Pangasinan

Oromo

Armenian

Italian

Kannada

Filipino

Braille

Hungarian

Dari

Fujianese

Vietnamese

Czech

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