Watch Out, New York City Schools -- Here Comes Medina

Thanks to everyone who wrote in explaining that it's insider Jennifer (Jenny) Medina who's now writing city education stories that we'll all be (and are already) reading.

According to an internal email announcement someone sent me, Medina "began her career at The New York Times as an intern in education where working with Tamar Lewin she turned out a memorable series on how city schools were pushing students out so they wouldn't count as part of the dropout rate." Since then she's covered NY and CT state politics, as well as the Lieberman campaign, and more. "All of this was just the right preparation for covering the high-stakes drama of a school system of 1.1 million students where the political infighting can rival any legislature's and passions run high over the ideology of math teaching, kindergarten admissions, cell phones and contested territory as small schools proliferate and vie for space."

This is apparently a picture of Medina on the job. Here are some of her recent stories, some of which have already started appearing in the paper.