WaPo announces new roles on education team

The following excerpt was sent out from The Washington Post’s local editor Mike Semel, deputy local editor Maria Glod, education editor Adam Kushner and deputy education editor Janel Davis:

We’re thrilled to announce new roles on the education desk for Hannah Natanson, Karina Elwood and Nicole Asbury. Hannah has taken on a new beat covering some of the political disputes over American education. Karina is covering Virginia schools, particularly those in Alexandria and Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. And Nicole is covering Maryland schools, particularly those in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

In this new role, Hannah is reporting on the proliferating laws that govern what teachers can say about race and gender, the efforts to restrict access to controversial books in school libraries, the acrimony sundering school boards, the movement to give parents more say over what their children learn and other future debates as they take shape.

Hannah, who started at The Post as an intern, grew up in D.C. and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard University, where she played on the varsity soccer team and served as managing editor of the Harvard Crimson.

Karina came to The Post in 2021 as a summer intern on the local politics and government team. Since then, she’s covered news across Virginia, Maryland and the District as a general assignment reporter.

Karina has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, where she served as editor in chief of the student-run newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator. During her time as a student, she interned at the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel.

Nicole has been a steadfast member of the education team — first as an intern and then, since January, on contract. She has frequently filled in to report on schools outside her coverage area. She was an integral part of the team’s coverage of school reopenings amid the pandemic, including her stories on coronavirus testing requirements in D.C. schools and Montgomery County students coping with pandemic trauma through quilting.

Nicole came to The Post in summer 2021 as a Metro intern covering social issues, including residents of a Germantown mobile home park who were being charged excessive water rates by their landlord. While attending the University of Kansas, where she earned a bachelor’s in journalism, she worked as a breaking news intern and government reporter for the Kansas City Star.