Pamela Kraynak

Pamela C. Kraynak, J.D. is the Legal Program Associate for the Northeast Regional Resource Center since 1999, and with WestEd since 2000. Ms. Kraynak focuses on legal and policy developments in special education, analysis and initiatives involving the relationship between the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), supports states in identifying quality control measures and early interventions for their dispute resolution systems, improving interagency coordination and agreements, reducing the disproportionate representation of minorities in special education and assists states with planning and designing systemic change through the federal monitoring process. Ms. Kraynak manages a regional workgroup of state legal and policy personnel and is a member of the Regional Resource’s National Monitoring Workgroup. Prior to practicing law, Pamela was the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. While practicing, Ms. Kraynak taught Constitutional Law, Legal Writing, and Community Development at Woodbury College, served on the Vermont Human Services Board for six years and was a member of the Ad Hoc Task Force on Adoption that was successful in preserving the right of second parent adoption. Pamela spent fifteen years in private practice, most recently as a founding partner with the firm, Blackwood and Kraynak, P.C. Throughout her law career, Ms. Kraynak represented school boards, persons with disabilities and their guardians. She has been involved with a number of civil rights and change efforts, including gay and lesbian employment and family rights, reproductive rights, and the development of affordable housing. She has spent most of her career focused on strategies of conflict resolution through designing collaborative processes, and using negotiation, mediation, and facilitated discussion to resolve disputes. She is a cum laude graduate of Vermont Law School, 1985.