Jessica Bakeman
Director of Enterprise JournalismJessica Bakeman is Director of Enterprise Journalism at WLRN, South Florida's NPR member station. Bakeman oversees the station's new investigations team, and she co-edited the 2023 investigation Unguarded, examining the Guardianship Program of Dade County's real estate sales practices. Since joining WLRN in fall 2017, Bakeman has also served as senior news editor and education reporter.
Bakeman was the editor and project manager of Class of COVID-19: An Education Crisis for Florida's Vulnerable Students, a 2021 multimedia series from Florida Public Media exploring how the pandemic upended public education statewide. The project won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in digital.
In 2020, she was named journalist of the year by the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Bakeman reported and produced WLRN's 2019 audio documentary and investigative series, Chartered: Florida's First Private Takeover Of A Public School System, which earned a regional Murrow for news documentary and an honorable mention for the inaugural Esserman-Knight Journalism Prize.
She won national first-place awards for audio storytelling in 2019 and education beat reporting in 2018 from the Education Writers Association.
Previously, Bakeman helped establish POLITICO's national network of state capital coverage, serving as an original member of the company's bureaus in both Albany, N.Y., and Tallahassee, Fla. She also covered New York state politics for The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
Bakeman is a past president of the Capitol Press Club of Florida, a nonprofit organization that raises money for college scholarships benefiting journalism students. Also, she twice chaired a planning committee for the New York State Legislative Correspondents Association's annual political satire show, the oldest of its kind in the country.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and English literature from SUNY Plattsburgh, a public liberal arts college in northeastern New York. She proudly hails from Rochester, N.Y.
She can be reached at jbakeman@wlrnnews.org
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O, Miami and WLRN's 2023 Zip Odes Finale was one for the books — more than 300 guests joined us for the return of our in-person poetry reading at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. -
Alberto Carvalho said he hopes the school board fast-tracks a plan to adopt new books and restore the sex ed curriculum — especially since state law requires health classes to cover teen pregnancy and teen dating violence.
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The three finalists to be the next superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools are being publicly interviewed at a special school board meeting Monday. Check back for updates as the board questions the candidates and deliberates.
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In an ad airing on Spanish-language media, a conservative Cuban-American attorney endorses a superintendent candidate he says will "approve and promote the law of Governor Ron DeSantis."
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A school board with ideological divisions over charter schools, the role of police, budget priorities and more: That's what Alberto Carvalho will need to manage in his next role, explained KPCC education reporter Kyle Stokes.
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The Florida Board of Education voted during a conference call on Thursday afternoon to sanction eight districts — including the three large public school systems in South Florida — for defying state rules that guarantee parents the choice of whether their children wear masks. As of now, the districts are allowing opt outs for only medical reasons.
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A $2 million federal grant is supporting an internship program aimed at creating a pipeline of mental health providers for schools.
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The University of Miami study supports vaccine requirements for school employees and cutting class sizes.
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Amid Broward County Public Schools' high-profile battle with the DeSantis administration over masks, district leaders say the state owes them more than $200 million in federal relief funds.
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It's not a final decision on the question on whether facial coverings can be required in school. Legal challenges are continuing in state and federal proceedings.
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To mask or not to mask in Florida's public schools? Who gets to decide that is shaping up to be the biggest political battle in Florida this year. It's also the latest fight between state leaders and local school officials.
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South Florida students who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 may not be able to attend school at all if their classmates aren't wearing masks, their parents argue.
