Posts Tagged ‘San Francisco’

Having heard horror stories about San Fran’s public schools, I’ve been surprised how many nice schools I’ve seen during this fall’s school tour process. Seems like I’m not alone in being pleasantly shocked, if a post last week from SF Gate blog The Mommy Files is to be believed. In “Let’s Face It: S.F. Has Good Public Schools” writer Amy Graff teases out several pertinent nuggets proving her case, such as:

• After nearly 40 years of declining enrollment, the San Francisco Unified School District’s applications went up by 308 in 2008, with 500 more in 2009.
• Enrollment is up so much that a closed school, De Avila on Haight Street, will be open next year.
• Earlier in 2009, “San Francisco schools posted the highest test scores (API) among urban districts in the state, far surpassing even the state average in both math and English.”
• The number of San Francisco public school students taking Advanced Placement tests has increased every year since 2000 and in 2009 increased 20 percent.

Of course, enrollment is still way down compared to a decade or two ago: enrollment in 2009 is about 55,000 students, a decrease from 62,000 in 1995. But after declining for four decades, a blip upwards is very interesting, indeed.

My theory? Housing is so expensive everywhere that parents figure they might as well stay renting in the city instead of splitting for the suburbs. It’s the influx of these parents (PTA membership is also way up in the city!) that are changing the schools, fast.

Suddenly-crowded parks and overstuffed preschool waiting lists don’t lie: according to an article in the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco is experiencing a baby boom. Long known as the one of the most barren cities in the nation, San Francisco’s birth rates have suddenly spiked with over 9,000 born in the city for the first time since 1994, and the biggest brood of kids in general since the 1970s.

The Merc theorizes the new baby boom is a reversal of the yuppie trend, where parents moved out of cities and into suburbs as they spawned. The new class of mostly white, mostly upper class San Francisco parent loves city life enough to pay for private schools and the best neighborhoods.

My theory: parents started leaving SF in droves once the housing boom made it impossible for them to buy in the city. Now that housing in all the nearby cities is unreasonably inflated, discouraged parents vow to just rent rather than buying…and if you’re going to rent, goes the reasoning, why rent in Albany or San Mateo when prices are similar in San Francisco? Regardless, the influx of tiny citizens is probably a good thing for local parents, leading to more restaurant kids’ nights and more potential playmates on your block.

Healthy-food-oriented parents whose kids attend a SFUSD school will want to be at Mission High School on Thursday night, at a special meeting organized by parents who hope to change SFUSD’s food policies. Here’s what the flyer says:

Are you interested in learning more about the food in SFUSD schools, and how to improve it? Do you want to see more fresh fruits and vegetables served with school meals? Perhaps you have heard about the food in Berkeley schools and wonder why San Francisco is different? Are you dreaming about locally-grown foods in our cafeterias?”

Why, yes! Yes, I am! I’ll see you there. This is just an evening of brainstorming; petitioning the SFUSD will come later. The meeting is at Thursday, May 21 at 7pm at Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores) in San Francisco. Email lenabrook@yahoo.com or visit groups.yahoo.com/group/sffoodsystems/.

For more inspiration, see our earlier post on Ann Cooper, Director of Nutrition for the exemplary Berkeley Unified School District.

Got free time on a Tuesday? You’re in luck: Tuesday is the traditional storytime day for San Francisco libraries, which offer storytimes for kids of all ages, particularly the little ones. Here’s a partial list; for more, see sfpl.org.

All Ages

10:30am Main Library, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove Street), San Francisco, 415-557-4554

Age 0-3

10:15am Usually held at Noe Valley Library, but since it’s closed for renovations, programs are temporarily held at Bethany United Methodist Church, 1268 Sanchez (at the corner of Clipper and Sanchez), San Francisco, 415-695-5095

10:15am The Young and the Restless (for one-year-olds only), Presidio Branch, 3150 Sacramento Street (at Cherry Street), San Francisco, 415-355-2880

10:30am Glen Park Branch, 2825 Diamond Street (near Bosworth), San Francisco, 415-355-2858

10:30am West Portal Branch, 190 Lenox Way (at Ulloa Street), San Francisco, 415-355-2886.

Age 3-5

10:30am Anza Branch, 550 37th Avenue (at Anza Street), San Francisco,  415-355-5717

10:30am Ortega Branch, 3223 Ortega Street (at 39th Avenue), San Francisco, 415-355-5700

10:30am Portola Branch, 2450 San Bruno Avenue (at Silliman Street), San Francisco, 415-355-5660.

10:40am Western Addition Branch, 1550 Scott Street (at Geary Street), San Francisco, 415-355-5725

11am Usually held at Noe Valley Branch, but since it’s closed for renovations, programs are temporarily held at Bethany United Methodist Church, 1268 Sanchez (at the corner of Clipper and Sanchez), San Francisco, 415-695-5095

11am Ocean View Branch, 345 Randolph Street at Ramsell, San Francisco, 415-355-5615

Where is the November rain that’s supposed to be falling right now? Though some days have been gray and foggy, the sun breaks through most afternoons and turns our winter weather into an Indian Summer. Quick, before the weather turns damp again, get outside with your kids for a lovely walk through town. Need a little inspiration? Pick up Chronicle Books’ City Walks with Kids: San Francisco, and head off on any one of fifty different adventures.

You can waltz around Golden Gate Park, the Embarcadero, the Exploratorium and other hotspots, with items of interest to kids (playgrounds, food, weird things to climb on) clearly noted. The walks were clearly written by a mom, who understands that parents need to know about where the bathrooms are, and typical weather in the area. I also like that the walks are in the form of largeish cards. Who wants to drag a big book out with you sightseeing? No, take a couple of cards in your hulking mom-bag and leave the rest at home. City Walks with Kids: San Francisco is available at chroniclebooks.com.

If you have older kids or want more of a workout, try Stairway Walks in San Francisco by Adah Bakalinsky, a zippy octogenarian whose book has been a local bestseller for two decades. Bakalinsky lays out routes, public transportation information, and the sweet spots of dozens of San Francisco staircases, from well-known ones like the Coit Tower steps to hidden gems like the Saturn Street stairs. You never saw the city like this, and once you catch your breath it’ll be stolen away again when you see the views. Stairway Walks is available at wildernesspress.com.

All this hot weather has me cursing the lack of swimming spots in San Francisco. Yes, yes, I know, if I lived in the East Bay there would be pools and lakes aplenty, but here in the city you’re pretty much stuck with aging public pools, horrendously expensive private pools, or the ever-icy Pacific Ocean.

If you don’t belong to a private facility with a pool (yum, fancy JCC pool), your best bet is the rooftop pool at UCSF’s Mission Bay location, which has open Family Swim Time every day but Wednesday. The pool is new, clean and sparkling, with an unparalleled view of San Francisco’s downtown from the water, a million teak chairs to rest in, and a tiny Astroturf lawn to mystify tiny fingers. The day pass rate is $15 for adults and kids, but the nice front desk people tend to wink at the kids and let them in free for swim time. Street parking is dicey but there’s an adjacent parking garage with parking a mere $3 an hour.

The pool is heated, but kept at a brisk 75 degrees so wait for a nice, warm day to drag the family down there. Floating in clear blue water, watching the dramatic San Francisco skyline and planes flying overhead, you may for just a few seconds feel like you have the glamorous urban lifestyle you planned for.

The rooftop lap pool at the Bakar Fitness & Recreation Center is located at UCSF’s Mission Bay location, 1675 Owens Street (at 16th Street), San Francisco. Call 415-514-4545 or visit mbfitness.ucsf.edu for a schedule of swim times.

San Francisco is a city filled with wonderful playgrounds, but it wasn’t always so. In the late ’90s, many city playgrounds were crumbling, graffiti-strewn, and dangerous, occupied more by drug users and the homeless than laughing children at play.

You can thank the local nonprofit Neighborhood Parks Council for the city’s playground renaissance. Starting in 2002 they began renovating outdated playgrounds (including the Quetzacoatl-graced 24th & York Street Mini Park), leaving a trail of beautiful play-spots behind them. And there are more to come, including a much-buzzed-about renovation of the Dolores Park playground. The Council also prepared a Playground Report Card that assigned letter grades to all of the city’s playgrounds — hey, taken your kids to any of the F parks? Yeah, us too.

The Parks Council can’t do it alone, however, so if you have any sweat equity to contribute, you can find out where and how at sfnpc.org. And if you notice safety hazards or something not right at the parks you frequent, let the Council know by visiting ParkScan.org.