John Valantassis (he/him) is a Senior Attorney in the Pittsburgh office of the Education Law Center. He will support ELC’s litigation and policy advocacy across all issue areas. Previously, John worked as a staff attorney at KidsVoice, where he provided education advocacy for Allegheny County youth in the dependency system to help ensure they had school stability, educational supports, and access to learning despite persistent barriers. Prior to that, he represented families of children with disabilities as an associate with Ruder Law and advocated for children with disabilities across settings as the Child Advocacy Director at The Arc of Philadelphia. John is a graduate of Haverford College and Temple University Beasley School of Law. John interned with ELC during the summer following his second year of law school and returned to ELC as a legal fellow after graduating law school.