Natalie Orenstein brings our total number of full-time reporting staff to two, in addition to the three journalist founders who all edit, report and write.

This week Berkeleyside is delighted to welcome Natalie Orenstein to the team.

Orenstein joined us as a full-time reporter, bringing our total number of full-time reporting staff to two, in addition to the three journalist founders who all edit, report and write. (Here’s the full team.)

Orenstein has hit the ground running, already filing a story on the proposed learning redesign at Berkeley High, and attending — as well as live-tweeting — Wednesday’s School Board meeting. Orenstein will be doing general assignment reporting, with one of her beats being education, so readers can look forward to enhanced coverage of Berkeley schools and the issues they are facing.

Orenstein is no stranger to Berkeleyside, as she interned for us in the summer of 2012 when she was an undergraduate student at Pomona College, and has contributed reporting to the site since then. She previously wrote about public policy and social science research for a number of national nonprofits and foundations. Her journalism has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the J-Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, among other publications.

The addition of Orenstein is one of the first fruits of Berkeleyside’s pioneering direct public offering, which is raising crucial capital to strengthen our reporting and our business.

Contact Natalie Orenstein at natalie@berkeleyside.com