Kaimuki High School will showcase its state-of-the-art science center with a public open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday with a variety of activities including kids' voting, a "recycled products" costume contest and a Halloween movie.

The new science center, built with $400,000 in state money, is also the home of 2007 state Teacher of the Year Jami Muranaka, who heads the school's science department and is the biology team teacher.

The multipurpose classroom is equipped with 30 new computers that were programmed by Kaimuki's business students. Another unique feature is a SMART Board, an interactive whiteboard hooked up to a computer which allows the user to write, erase and perform mouse functions with a finger, pen or even an eraser.

"The hope is to engage students and to integrate technology in the learning environment," Muranaka said. "Students say this is the nicest room on campus and is a place where students enjoy hanging out during lunch and after school."

BOYS CAN APPLY TO SAINT FRANCIS

Saint Francis School will accelerate the process of phasing in a coed student population by offering sixth-grade admission to male candidates beginning with the 2007-08 academic year.

The school's board of directors said the decision was prompted by a policy change by the Hawai'i public school system, which is taking sixth-graders out of the elementary cycle and assigning them to middle schools in the surrounding areas as of next year.

The Sisters of Saint Francis of the Neumann Communities and the Saint Francis School Board of Directors decided in 2005 that a coed school was the best direction for the all-girls grades 6 to 12 school.

KAPOLEI HIGH LIBRARY HONORED

Kapolei High School's library was named the 2006 winner of the American Association of School Librarians National School Library Media Program of the Year Award in the Single School category. AASL is a division of the American Library Association.

This is the first library program in the state to be selected for this prestigious national award, said Kapolei librarians Carolyn Kirio and Sandy Yamamoto. Each winning program receives a $10,000 prize.

The sponsoring company, Follett Library Resources, was scheduled to present the Kapolei librarians with the award this morning at a ceremony at the school.