Washington Post taps Tolbert as education editor

The following excerpt announcement was sent out by The Washington Post local editor Mike Semel and deputy local editor Monica Norton:

We are thrilled to announce that Kathryn Tolbert has formally become our education editor.

Kathryn is an experienced journalist and leader who has been guiding our education coverage on an interim basis since late July. Her steady hand, font of ideas and editing skills have kept The Post’s schools coverage the best in the nation during the pandemic.

Kathryn also oversaw a great accountability piece about why D.C. schools have struggled to reopen and the sliding academic performance of students during this unusual year.

Kathryn has been at The Post for 27 years, excelling in several roles, including stints as Tokyo correspondent, director of recruiting and hiring, and editing roles in Foreign, Local, National and the Talent Network.

She took a leave of absence in 2018 to pursue a rich and compelling project that included writing and oral histories of Japanese war brides.

Proving that everything at The Post comes full circle, Kathryn’s first newsroom job was covering Montgomery County schools. We are glad she’s back on education.