Dear Bateman Families and Friends,

Throughout the past week alone, we have had the pleasure of connecting with our entire staff, over 300 of our families in varying virtual events, and countless more via email, enrollment and forms. We have shared our commitments to our children, welcomed new families, answered questions and much more. Ultimately, we have supported one another and have created several open lines of communication. It is through this communication that we will continue to build trust and solidify partnerships across our school community.

We stand by our commitment of constant and transparent communication. Earlier this evening, Chicago Public Schools released the official guidance for At Home Learning this fall. Please keep in mind that this new guidance has several details that are new to us all. We have been reflecting and brainstorming with our staff to enhance our practices from the spring and are eager to put our new ideas into practice.

We are confident that our team will develop a robust plan that fits the needs of our school community. We had intended to share our draft plan with you tomorrow morning at our Local School Council meeting and will unfortunately be unable to do so having just learned new information this evening. This has a great impact on our school community — one that impacts students, teachers, and families alike — and deserves time, collaboration, thoughtfulness, and multiple perspectives. We encourage you to join us at our rescheduled August LSC meeting, which will be announced at the beginning of next week, to provide feedback on our draft learning plan.

We cannot thank you enough for your continued outreach, support and excitement for the upcoming school year. We know that together, we will continue to #BeBateman in the best possible way!

Please see below for details from the district and do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.
 

Warm regards,

Georgia & Kate

Dear Bateman Families and Friends,

Happy Friday! You should have received an email this morning from Chicago Public Schools regarding the Remote Learning Framework release. It was originally intended to be shared with staff and families today but will now be issued in the upcoming days. Please know that our reflecting and planning has not stopped since March and we remain dedicated to our commitments to each of our students and our community.

Virtual Q&A  Session: Wednesday, August 12th at 6:30pm

We will be hosting a Virtual Bateman Question & Answer Session on Wednesday, August 12th at 6:30 pm during which questions and concerns from our community will be addressed. Please submit your question or concern by noon on Tuesday, August 11th.  

To join the Q&A Session, pleaseinform us of your attendance by Tuesday, August 11th at noon. You will receive a link to join in your inbox by 5:30 pm on the 12th.

For those unable to attend the Virtual Bateman Q&A Session, we will be providing an FAQ Sheet on our website.  Additionally, if you would like to share ideas and suggestions or have lingering questions for the upcoming school year, please click here. We would love to hear from all Bateman community members and will respond, when necessary, in a timely manner.

Classroom Assignments
Homeroom assignments will be released via Parent Portal on Thursday, August 13th. If you need assistance with your parent portal, please contact Evelyn Rivera at [email protected].  

Technology Requests
During Remote Learning in the Spring, Bateman distributed over 400 chromebooks to our families! At the time, we were limited to giving one chromebook per family. All families should have kept their chromebooks with the exception of 8th graders and transferring students. If your family is in need of an additional chromebook or internet services for the upcoming school year, please complete this form to inform us of your needs. We will have a technology distribution date in the upcoming weeks once we assess the needs of our community.

We hope to see you at the Q&A Session on Wednesday evening! We will continue to keep you as informed as possible as we finalize plans for the upcoming year.

Stay well and #BeBateman!

Good afternoon Bateman Families and Friends,

This morning, you should have received formal communication from the district stating  that we will begin the school year with at home learning. The decision to implement a remote learning model will ensure the safety of our students, families and educators alike. It also allows us the opportunity to reflect upon and strengthen our remote learning structures.

We know this decision brings a wide array of reactions - for some of you this news may be disappointing and for others, you may be feeling a sense of relief. For that, I want to assure you our team is eager to make Remote Learning a positive experience for ALL of our students and families.  In March, our educators rose to the occasion when implementing emergency Remote Learning. At the end of the school year, our educators and parents took surveys to share their feedback about remote instruction - both what went well and what we can continue to improve upon this fall. We are confident that with the expertise of our teachers, your feedback and the professional development provided both internally and by the district, the Bateman staff will be prepared for robust Remote Learning instruction beginning September 8th.

Our goals that drive our planning will be the following: 

1. Create a sense strong of community within all classrooms

2. Support the social and emotional needs of all students

3. Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all levels of learners in order to ensure academic progress for all

4. Daily interaction with content and grade-level standards

5. Embed assessments and informative feedback to help prioritize student needs and content

6. Continue constant and transparent communication with our families

In the upcoming weeks, we will be collaborating with our teachers and staff to create a comprehensive and supportive Remote Learning Plan that reflects the Bateman community. The district is planning to release the Remote Learning Guidance with expectations this Friday and we have several working sessions scheduled with our teachers next week to incorporate parent and teacher feedback from the spring to strengthen and streamline our practices. This includes planning for social and emotional integration, dual language, and meeting the needs of all levels of learners. Please join us for our August Virtual LSC Meeting on Wednesday, August 19th at 8:30am where we intend to present our initial Remote Learning Plan for the Fall.

In the meantime, we know that today’s news has most likely sparked some questions and concerns amongst our parent community. We will be hosting a Virtual Bateman Q&A Session on Wednesday, August 12th at 6:30 pm during which questions and concerns from our community will be addressed. If you have a burning question, please submit your question or concern here. Having the questions ahead of time will assist us in preparing responses and addressing concerns from multiple families. Please submit your question by 12pm on Tuesday, August 11th. While we may not have the answers to all questions, we will be able to provide you transparency regarding where the school is in the planning process. All questions that cannot be addressed at this time will only help us as feedback in the planning process with our teachers. More details regarding how to join both meetings will be shared in the upcoming days.

Additionally, if you are unable to attend the Virtual Bateman Q&A Session and would like to share ideas and suggestions or have lingering questions for the upcoming school year, please click here. We would love to hear from all Bateman community members. 

In a typical year, August and September are exciting months, especially for our new families, preschool and kindergarten families. We are thrilled you are joining the Bateman Family! As we kick off the year and welcome new families, we are creatively planning ways to integrate "meet the teacher"/orientations for all grades the week of August 31st. 

For now, please mark your calendars for:

• Pre-Kindergarten Virtual Orientation September 2nd at 10 am 
• Kindergarten Virtual Orientation September 1st at 10 am

As always, please continue to reach out with any questions or concerns. Be strong, be proud, and #BeBateman.

Warm regards,

Georgia & Kate