The 19th is thrilled to announce the hire of our first-ever gender and education reporter, Los Angeles-based Nadra Nittle. Nadra brings more than 15 years of writing and editing — plus classroom experience and a master’s degree in teaching — to this critical beat, where she’ll explore the intersections of gender and race in the nation’s schools. 

Nadra got her start in reporting at the El Paso Times and later the Santa Fe Reporter. She has since worked as an education or staff reporter everywhere from Vox Media to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, where she covered California’s third-largest school district. Most recently, as a senior reporter at Civil Eats, Nadra reported on the push for universal free lunch nationally, how schools are meeting the needs of food-insecure families during the pandemic, and why it’s so difficult for the children of migrant farmworkers to obtain a quality education. 

Nadra has also written freelance education stories for The Imprint, Education Post, EdSource, District Administration and The Atlantic, where she revealed improprieties in the way the school system distributed funds earmarked for low-income students, English language learners, and foster youth. Along the way she’s interviewed a wide range of stakeholders within public education systems — from local and federal officials to superintendents and principals to teacher union leaders, educators, parents, advocates, and most importantly, students. 

Nadra has discussed education and other reporting with outlets like Good Morning America, WNYC’s “The Takeaway”, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Southern California Public Radio, Texas Public Radio, and Vox’s “Today Explained” podcast. She’s the author of “Toni Morrison’s Spiritual Vision: Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in Her Life and Literature,” which is available for purchase this month. You can follow her on twitter @NadraKareem and can look forward to her reporting beginning November 1!

Please join us in welcoming Nadra to The 19th team!