Education Reporter

The Education Reporter covers K-12 schools, districts and educational policies in Santa Clara County for San José Spotlight. This reporter will excel at breaking news, cultivating relationships with education leaders, elected trustees and other sources to pursue exclusive enterprise stories that hold leaders accountable and help readers understand how complex policy decisions impact their lives. The Education Reporter works under the supervision of the managing editor. We expect a high level of professionalism, courtesy and the ability to ask tough questions, hold powerful officials accountable and challenge education leaders in the search for truth. This position also works closely with city and county agencies, government officials, politicians and elected leaders. The ideal candidate will be willing to take on a variety of assignments, juggle daily articles with long-term enterprise stories and demonstrate excellent communication, organizational and time management skills.

This reporter must build our public education beat by developing and maintaining relationships with sources and demonstrating exceptional communication skills, including social media. They must possess the ability to write compelling copy -- quickly and accurately.

About the Organization: San José Spotlight is an award-winning nonprofit news organization dedicated to independent political and business reporting. Our mission is to change the face of local journalism by building a community-supported newsroom that ignites civic engagement, educates citizens and strengthens our democracy.

Responsibilities:
• Cover assigned educational meetings, events, hearings and news conferences and utilize social media to build an audience, connect with readers while reporting in the field and keep them informed on policies, discussions and decisions.
• Juggle a variety of stories each week, some of which will be daily assignments and others enterprise or longer, more data-driven stories.
• Write compelling copy – quickly and accurately – with the goal of posting a story quickly after a legislative vote or event.
• Regularly take photos and videos, as needed, to accompany stories or as stand-alone reporting.
• Must demonstrate a commitment to fairness and accuracy, in fact and in tone, and a strong grounding in journalism ethics.
• Generate, build and maintain relationships with a diverse variety of sources. Meet regularly with education sources from various school districts, including those in marginalized communities such as East San Jose. Cultivate relationships with top leaders, trustees, teachers, faculty, union leaders and parents.
• Work collaboratively with editors and other San José Spotlight journalists.
• Attend and actively participate in editorial and departmental meetings.

The salary range for this job is $60,000-$65,000. We offer a generous PTO policy, company-funded medical insurance, equipment and cellphone stipends, and a $1,000 annual stipend for professional development and training.