Hats Off to the OmbudsWOman!

Ombudsman. A strange word with big meaning. Swedish in origin (according to my trusty wikipedia) an ombudsman is an official, usually (but not always) appointed by the government or by parliament, who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens. You still with me? In other words, it's someone who listens to people's complaints and helps resolve them.

Here in Washington, we have an education ombudsman, or more accurately an ombudsWOman, Adie Simmons, director of the Education Ombudsman's Office. This new and growing agency helps parents and students better communicate and resolve conflicts with school employees. Read more about them in this Seattle PI article.

The agency is particularly helpful for immigrant families who sometimes just need basic information but have a difficult time getting it due to language barriers. The EOO has translation services in Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese, and offers interpreter services for more than 100 languages.

I know Adie and the EOO team and they are fabulous! Hats off to this great agency for giving families the personal attention they need to ensure their students get the education they deserve.