By this time next year, Adha Rodriguez’s 2-year-old son, along with hundreds of other children in the Rincon Hill and Barbary Coast areas, could be enjoying a playground in their own neighborhood.
The dream to build a play structure in an area of The City where there currently is not any became a reality last week. Recreation and Park Department officials gave Rodriguez the green light to build a playground, according to an e-mail from the department.
The approval came three months after Rodriguez put the idea together.
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A 24-year-old man was found guilty of murdering a veteran San Francisco police officer after a high-speed chase in 2006.
The jury deliberated two days before finding Steven Petrilli guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, four counts of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, gross vehicular manslaughter, evading police and causing serious bodily injury or death and driving a stolen vehicle. He faces life without the possibility of parole.
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Think San Francisco doesn’t have enough open space? Wish a park – or parklet – was just steps away from your business or residents? Your dreams may come true after The City’s planning department called for proposals to turn parking spaces into open space.
Last Saturday, many business and residents participated in Park(ing) Day, a worldwide event to promote green spaces in urban areas.
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If the resources being poured into low-performing schools now were available years ago, Patricia Gray said she would have turned Balboa High School around a long time ago.The now-assistant superintendent is one of a team of administrators in the “superintendent zones” aimed at helping bring up test scores, school participation and attendance at persistently poor performing schools.
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After years of delays and prices that have in some cases nearly doubled, library officials say they will do whatever it takes to finish renovations and construction of new branch libraries.
When voters first approved the $105.9 million Branch Library Improvement Bonds, known as BLIP, in 2000, the 19 renovations were expected to be completed by 2009. Ten years after approval, work is still under way and $188.9 million has been spent so far on design or construction of 23 branches.
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More special-education students should be moved into general-education classrooms as part of a drastic makeover of special-education programs, a report ordered by the Board of Education recommended.According to the report released Tuesday, the San Francisco Unified School District needs to change the way it serves the nearly 7,000 special-education students in order to help them achieve better academic success.
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Less than one minute before the end of the first half of Monday’s home opener for the 49ers at Candlestick Park, Jerry Rice snuck out to the sidelines to a standing ovation.
The three-time Super Bowl champion wide receiver had one more chance to be hailed as the greatest of all time by the fans who adored him during his Hall of Fame playing career.
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One hour before kickoff, Margo Winton stood on the dirt and gravel of the outer parking lot at Candlestick Park throwing a football with her mom, dad and cousin — a ritual she has participated in every football season of her life.
The 22-year-old lifelong 49ers fan was among the thousands of people at Candlestick Park for the home opener of the NFL season.
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The high cost of housing in San Francisco has forced some public school teachers to leave The City or bunk up with other teachers to save on rent.
San Francisco Unified School District officials want to change that and boost teacher retention by converting district property to subsidized housing for employees.
“In some cases, there are three or four teachers to a house,” Board of Education member Hydra Mendoza said. “Providing affordable housing is an incentive to keep them.”
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In an effort to increase parent involvement in schools, the San Francisco Education Fund has partnered with San Francisco Unified School District to create a volunteer interpretation program to help bridge communication.
The program – which is looking for volunteers who speak Cantonese and Spanish – is aimed at helping improve student success by pairing non-English parents with interpreters to communicate with classroom teachers during day-to-day activities, back-to-school night and parent-teacher conferences.
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Students at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology were evacuated for a brief time Thursday afternoon after someone had reported smelling natural gas.
According to San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge, the fire department responded to the high school around 1:24 p.m. The students had already been evacuated from the building by staff.
By 1:52 p.m., the department had checked the school and determined there was no gas leak. Students have returned to class.
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Tourists — and locals — beware: an increase in auto break-ins near Pier 39 have visitors to The City losing money, electronics and luggage.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, at least 10 break-ins have occurred so far Wednesday evening. Thieves have reportedly taken “everything” from cash, iPods, iPads and laptops.
Victims are all tourists from Germany, Australia and other foreign countries making a quick stop in San Francisco and leaving all belongings in the cars, according to police.
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Students in one algebra class at Presidio Middle School are the lucky new owners of iPads. The fancy new technology, though, is provided as a learning tool for students, not just for fun and games.
For the students in one San Francisco Unified School District middle school class, the iPad will be used as a learning tool to customize how the kids learn algebra.
For instance, when stuck on a math problem, students can watch videos to help them solve the math concept or record notes to help them with a similar problem in the future.
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When Albero Beral sat down at a table in the Tower Salon A of the Westin Saint Francis Hotel this month and powered up his laptop, he logged on to his Spanish lesson for the day instead of readying himself for a conference.
Beral, a 15-year-old sophomore from Albany, was one of 50 students enrolled in The City’s newest charter school, San Francisco Flex Academy, a mixture of online course work and a traditional school setting.
Beral said he chose to transfer from his traditional high school to Flex Academy because of the course choices.
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San Francisco small-business owner Melissa Rich has donated over $4 million back to Bay Area schools through her business Interschola. What does Interschola do? It’s a service to school districts and other public entities that helps them manage and sell their surplus goods. We manage, research and post eBay listings.
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