Jillian Jorgensen is an Emmy-nominated education reporter at Spectrum News NY1. A graduate of New York City public schools and a native of Staten Island, Jillian first got her chance to grill elected officials about the school system when she was a senior at Staten Island Tech; Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited to hold a press conference announcing that the school would become a specialized high school, and Jillian asked whether that would favor good test-takers.

After graduating from Boston University, Jillian went on to ask mayors hundreds more questions, covering City Hall for the Staten Island Advance, the New York Observer, and as the City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Daily News. She’s a past president of The Inner Circle, a century-old organization of political journalists.

During her time at NY1, Jillian has covered the closure and rocky reopening of the nation’s largest school district due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the 2020-2021 school year, she reported from eight different first days of school, as the city slowly phased in in-person classes, only to close and reopen schools several more times. She has also chronicled the system’s failure to adequately serve children with disabilities, how schools are serving recently arrived asylum seekers, and the debate over admissions to specialized high schools. In 2022, she was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of “journalistic enterprise” for her coverage of the city’s public schools.

When she’s not on the air, Jillian enjoys cooking, vegetable gardening, and spending time with her husband Andrew and their dog, Toby. If you need a recommendation for a good slice of pizza on Staten Island, she can point you in the right direction. You can find her on Twitter at @jill_jorgensen, Threads at @jillianjorgensen, and Instagram at @jillianjorgensen.