The Ombuds Blog: Orange County Schools Ombuds Post First Annual Report

July 07, 2025

Orange County Schools Ombuds Post First Annual Report

Franklin McCune, the inaugural Employee Ombuds for the the public school district in Hillsborough, North Carolina, published his first annual report last week. (He also serves as the district's Board Specialist.) McCune assisted 49 visitors as he rolled out the Ombuds Office in the 2024-25 school year. Three quarters of the visitors were certified employees and the remainder were classified staff. The report adopts the use of IOA's Uniform Reporting Categories. (OC Schools Ombuds 2025 Report.)

1 comment:

Anonymous7/11/2025 7:12 AM
Congratulations to Franklin on his first year in this role!
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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany/Austria -- Ombudspersonen and Ombudsleute

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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