Hannah Natanson

Washington, D.C.

National K-12 education

Education: Harvard University, BA

Hannah Natanson is a reporter covering national K-12 education. She won a Peabody in 2024 for a podcast series on school gun violence. She was part of a team of Post journalists awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Latest from Hannah Natanson

The making of an alleged school shooter: Missed warnings and years of neglect

Interviews with family members and a review of private texts and public documents open a window on a 14-year-old’s path to alleged gunman at Apalachee High School.

October 3, 2024

Security alerts at Apalachee helped save lives, officials say

But many questions still remain about whether more could have been done to prevent the shooting.

September 6, 2024
People embrace at a makeshift memorial after a shooting at Apalachee High Schoo in Winder, Ga.

Cellphone bans spread in schools amid growing mental health worries

More states and school districts are forbidding or restricting students’ access to cellphones.

August 27, 2024

Columbia University president resigns after drawing ire over Israel-Gaza protests

Columbia President Minouche Shafik resigned her position, ending a tenure marred by backlash over handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus last spring.

August 14, 2024
Minouche Shafik, then president of Columbia University, testified before Congress in April. (Haiyun Jiang for The Washington Post)

UCLA can’t let protests block Jewish students from campus, judge rules

A judge ruled that UCLA cannot allow protesters to block Jewish students from campus access.

August 14, 2024
Tents on an encampment on the UCLA campus after clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on May 1.

Walz’s education record: Pro-union, covid cautious and big jump in funding

Tim Walz’s liberal education policies in Minnesota on race and gender protections and school funding — and opposition to vouchers — gained teachers’ support and ire from the GOP.

August 10, 2024
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signs an education budget bill into law alongside students in May 2019.

With voting under attack, Arizona schools don’t want to be polling locations

As false information about elections continues to spread, many school leaders in Maricopa County have closed their doors to the democratic process.

August 5, 2024
A school crossing guard stops cars for voters entering a Phoenix polling station in 2020.

Deep Reads: School turned him liberal. His mom loves Fox News. Will their bond survive?

After a mother sent her son to a new school, his views shifted left — bringing the nation’s political division home. When she visited her son at his campus in Upstate New York, a question hung over them: Would the two be able to accept each other?

August 3, 2024

School taught JD Vance to see a divided nation — and to use that division

In college and graduate school, Vance first learned to see America as divided, and to make use of that division.

July 31, 2024
The Old Campus Courtyard at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., seen in 2022. Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance attended law school at the Ivy League institution. (Stan Godlewski for The Washington Post)

Usha Vance told friends Trump appalled her. Now she’s working to elect him.

Usha Vance privately told friends she was outraged by Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and lamented the social breakdown that fueled his political support.

July 27, 2024
Usha Vance at the Republican National Convention on July 17.