Botanical Garden Gets OK to Charge Admission

The SF Recreation and Park Commission approved a request by the SF Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park to begin charging a $7 admission fee for out of town visitors. A family visiting the garden is expected to pay $15.

According to the SF Recreation and Park Department, the measure will generate about $200,000 - $260,000 a year in revenue after paying for people to collect the fees and for closing several of the 55-acre garden's entrances.

It is unknown as of presstime if the SF Board of Supervisors will approve the measure, which they rejected last year after local residents protested.

Lafayette School Celebrates Dr. Seuss

In March, all of Lafayette Elementary School's 512 students were treated to stories read by community members in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.

Read Aloud Day featured community leaders, including Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, SF Supervisor Eric Mar, Richmond Station Police Capt. Richard Corriea, local police officers and principals Ericka Lovrin, Al Dea and Ruby Brown and assistant principal John Greener. Also reading were Lafayette alumni Arnold Rotbert, Wayne Opp, Noah Griffin and Paul Rosenberg.

All of the school's second graders came in their pajamas to enjoy reading and listening to others read all day. They even had a special Seussical treat by getting to eat green eggs and ham.

NERT Training Session to Begin Late April

The Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) will be holding free trainings in the Richmond District in the next couple of months, beginning at the end of April.

NERT is a free training program for individuals, neighborhood groups and community-based organizations in San Francisco. Through the program, sponsored by the SF Fire Department, individuals will learn the basics of personal preparedness and prevention.

The training also includes hands-on disaster skills that will help individuals respond to a personal emergency as well as act as members of a neighborhood response team.

NERT will be offering classes at St. Anne's, 300 Lake St., on six Thursday evenings from April 29 to June 10, from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. There will also be classes at the SF Jewish Community Center.

For more information, go to the Web site at http://sffire.org.

Washington Athletes to be Honored at Fete

The San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame will induct 11 new members at its annual induction ceremony on May 15, which will be held at the Patio Espanol Restaurant.

Local athletes who will be honored are: Robert Bleggi (football, track and field: 1952 - 1956), a graduate of Polytechnic High School; Louie Harper (tennis: 1975 - 1978), a graduate of George Washington High School; Janice Salomon (tennis: 1995 - 1999), a graduate of Lowell High School; and Stan Sheriff (football: 1947 - 1950), a graduate of Washington High School.

For more information about the 28th annual event, which costs $45 to attend, call Marc at (415) 585-2465.

Running for Charity

Richmond District resident James Casby, 28, will run in the 114th Boston Marathon to raise money as a member of the American Liver Foundation's Run for Research team. The 26.2-mile-long event will be held on April 19.

Student assign. process OK'd

The San Francisco Board of Education unanimously approved a new policy in March for the way students are assigned to San Francisco's public schools. The new policy will take several years to fully implement and will begin with students entering transitional grades (kindergarten, sixth and ninth) in the Fall of 2011.

Both the old system, which has been in place since 2002, and the new one give families the option to choose from all SFUSD schools, but now where a student's family lives will play a more prominent role.

The new system will look at where a child lives and which schools the family selected and will use fewer factors to determine a student's placement offer. Unlike the current system, the new system will be applied in different ways at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

At all grade levels, the assignment system will be taking into consideration which census tract area a student lives within. Standardized test score data will be computed for each combined census tract, and those combined census tracts will be divided into quintiles based on average scores. In the policy this preference is called Census Tract Integration.

In middle school, the district will offer an initial school assignment to all fifth grade students to establish a more predictable feeder pattern so middle schools can work more closely with the feeder elementary schools to create more instructional alignment and continuity for students and families.

Trampoline park coming to Presidio

The Presidio's West Crissy Field will have another recreation option this summer when House of Air, an indoor trampoline park, opens in an historic former airplane hangar.

House of Air provides aerial and physical training on trampolines, as well as trampoline dodgeball, fitness classes and open jump time. Its grand opening is expected to be in August.

The idea for House of Air was developed seven years ago by Dave Schaeffer and Paul McGeehan during one of many long drives back from snowboarding at Lake Tahoe. Its mission of "giving flight to the flightless," embodied in its mascot, a penguin wearing a jetpack, is a fitting reuse for building 926, which once helped launch De Haviland DH-48 biplanes as part of the Army's 91st Observation Squadron.

Built in 1921, the building originally served as Crissy Air Field's land-plane hangar. Later, it was used as a motor vehicle paint shop and office and storage space for the Army. It is a contributing feature to the Presidio's National Historic Landmark status.

The Trust is overseeing the historic rehabilitation of the building which includes seismic upgrades, accessibility improvements, new building systems and other improvements.

Walk-ins will be welcome at the new facility and there will be special events, including birthday parties, corporate and family events and fundraisers. The building will include two large trampoline decks with trampoline walls, high-performance trampolines, children's bounce house, event rooms, snack and retail area, and showers and restrooms. For more information, visit the Web site at www.houseofairsf.com.