Special Education Mediation services are offered by OSPI at no charge to parents or school districts.  
Mediation is available to help resolve problems involving 
-  Initial identification of a student 
-  Evaluations of the student 
-  Educational placement 
-  Educational services provided to a student  
A mediation session is conducted by a trained, impartial mediator who assists the parties in discussing the issues in order to try and reach an agreement.  
Citizen Complaints: Any individual or organization may file a citizen complaint if they believe rights have been violated regarding federal or state laws or regulations implementing IDEA by 
-  A school district  
-  Another public agency serving special education students  
-  A private agency under contract with a public agency to serve special education students  
-  An educational service district 
The state OSPI investigates the complaints and issues a decision addressing the allegations.

Special Education Dispute Resolution offered at Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Offers formal dispute resolution options when parents and districts are not able to resolve differences through direct communication. Investigates citizen complaints about school districts.

Programs that provide a neutral third person who is acceptable to all parties to a dispute who facilitates discussion between the parties and aids them in making their own settlement decisions.

Mediation

Programs that work to ensure that children and youth with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education often by providing assistance for parents who need support in seeking and obtaining needed early intervention, educational, medical or therapeutic services for their children.

Special Education Advocacy

Programs that accept and, where possible, attempt to resolve complaints regarding licensing or accreditation, quality of education or other practices of public and private schools, vocational/trade schools, correspondence schools, colleges, universities or other educational institutions.

School Complaints

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.

Conflict Resolution offered by Office of the Education Ombuds

Helps resolve conflict between families and schools as a neutral third party. Offers options, help identifying issues and possible solutions. Provides information and referral to education-related resources. Does not provide legal advice.

Programs that provide advocacy and/or other forms of legal assistance for students, their families, advocates and others who have issues that have an impact on the learning environment in public and private educational institutions and affect the ability of students to attend and succeed in school. Specific issues may include school choice, student discipline and dismissal, search and seizure, privacy rights, freedom of expression, religion in schools, student testing, student achievement, promotion and retention policies, graduation requirements, student use of the Internet and other technologies, bullying on campus, student-to-student sexual harassment and school safety. General education advocacy relates to issues that have relevance for all students rather than focusing more narrowly on those related to special education.

General Education Advocacy

Programs that promote parent, family and community involvement in helping children succeed in school. Using a variety of involvement models, these programs encourage parents to support their children's schooling by working directly with their children on learning activities in the home and serving as an advocate for better education in their community. Parents are encouraged to model desirable behavior (e.g., reading for pleasure), discuss school matters at home, arrange for appropriate study space, organize and monitor their children's time, check homework on a regular basis, tutor their children at home, help older students make postsecondary plans and select courses which support these plans, advocate for their children when required, attend school functions, discuss their children's progress with teachers, join the PTA, vote in school board elections, attend school board meetings and, where possible, volunteer to help with school activities, work in the classroom and/or take an active role in governance and decision making about school programs at the community, state or national level.

Parent/Family Involvement in Education

Programs that attempt to reduce the incidence of bullying, a form of violence among children, on school playgrounds, in neighborhoods and in homes, through a variety of interventions which may include use of an anonymous questionnaire to assess the nature and prevalence of the problem, development and announcement of an intervention program, open discussions of bullying at school and in other venues, increased supervision of children in areas that are "hotspots" for bullying, arrangements for reporting bullying incidents, immediate intervention when bullying incidents occur, development of protective strategies for targets, formation of support groups for victims of bullies, discussions with parents of involved students, and engagement of community members in support of the program. Most bullying prevention programs are school based and target students in elementary, middle and junior high schools. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or psychological; and involves intentional, repeated hurtful acts, words and other behavior such as name-calling, threatening or shunning committed by one or more children against another child.

Bullying Prevention

Programs that provide assistance for people who believe they have been denied equal access to student loans or scholarships, or to educational programs at preschool, elementary, secondary, vocational, postsecondary, postgraduate or professional school levels based on their age, gender, race or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, sexual orientation or marital status.

Education Discrimination Assistance

Programs such as governmental, departmental or nonprofit ombudsman offices that provide assistance for people who want to register complaints about or have other issues which relate to the activities, actions or lack of action by public officials or civil service employees in local, county, state or federal government offices or the agencies they regulate and/or fund. Also included are programs that handle complaints about the availability and quality of services provided by any of these levels of government. The program provides an objective, neutral and independent review of complaints; offers reasonable remedies when complaints are substantiated; and uses information from the complaints and the investigations they trigger to identify and resolve problems within the agency or department and improve services.

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Special Education Dispute Resolution offered at Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Special Education Dispute Resolution offered at Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Conflict Resolution offered by Office of the Education Ombuds