Jessica Bakeman
Education reporterJessica Bakeman reports on K-12 and higher education for WLRN, South Florida's NPR affiliate. She is an investigative journalist who has also covered education policymaking and politics in three state capitals: Tallahassee, Fla.; Albany, N.Y.; and Jackson, Miss.
Bakeman is the reporter and producer behind WLRN's 2019 audio documentary and investigative series, "Chartered: Florida's First Private Takeover Of A Public School System," which earned a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for news documentary and an honorable mention for the inaugural Esserman-Knight Journalism Prize. She also played a leading role in WLRN's coverage of the aftermath of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Bakeman was awarded the 2020 Journalist of the Year award from the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She also won national first-place awards for audio storytelling in 2019 and education beat reporting in 2018 from the Education Writers Association. Other honors include a Salute to Excellence award from the National Association of Black Journalists and a Journalism Award of Excellence from the American College of Emergency Physicians, both for work in 2018.
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 and Tallahassee. She also covered New York state politics for The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
Bakeman is the 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.
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The demands by student activists face what could be an insurmountable obstacle: security fears in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting. -
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Local NewsThe African and African Diaspora Studies program at Florida International University had been at risk of getting cut for years because of its tiny enrollment. Black Lives Matter changed that almost overnight.
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NewsWith state grant funding, the district hired 60 mental health specialists to supplement the services schools are able to provide.
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NewsAs COVID-19 clusters are popping up at universities around the country, some of which have already shifted online, the University of Miami is beginning its own experiment with in-person classes during a pandemic.
