Jessica Bakeman
Education reporterJessica Bakeman is an investigative reporter and editor focusing on K-12 and higher education for WLRN, South Florida's NPR member station. Bakeman was awarded the 2020 Journalist of the Year award from the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Bakeman is the editor and project manager of Class of COVID-19: An Education Crisis for Florida's Vulnerable Students, a comprehensive multimedia series from Florida Public Media examining how the pandemic upended public education statewide. Published in spring 2021 with support from a competitive Education Writers Association fellowship, Class of COVID-19 includes a radio documentary, an hourlong television special and a limited-run newsletter.
Bakeman also 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 Edward R. Murrow Award for news documentary and an honorable mention for the inaugural Esserman-Knight Journalism Prize.
Bakeman 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, N.Y., and Tallahassee, Fla. 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 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. -
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.
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The largest school district in Florida will mandate masks for the school year that starts Monday, joining two others in defying Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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State Sen. Shevrin Jones spent the summer touring public universities around the state.
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The chair of the Florida Board of Education said recommending that school board members are removed from office is on the table.
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Dr. Aileen Marty says Miami-Dade County is now having its worst surge since the pandemic began.
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A state judge is expected to make a quick ruling over mask mandates in Florida schools, as the state Board of Education plans its next moves. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho discussed how "difficult" the coming weeks will be in his annual back-to-school speech.
