Perhaps the school has a bit too much history: Some suspect that mischievous spirits fool around in certain classrooms at night, opening closet doors that teachers had carefully closed the night before. There are also stories about a mysterious old woman who was seen wandering the campus at night in years past.

Kahuna have advised school officials that there are some harmless spirits-in-residence, and principal Ray Mizuba said Hilo Union has a quiet tradition of blessing the campus every five years or so in a discreet, low-key weekend affair.

But Hilo Union is very much focused on the present and future. Two blocks from downtown Hilo, the school serves a relatively large low-income population, with almost 72 percent of students receiving reduced-price or free lunches in the 2002-03 school year.

Some students come from foster homes and the homeless shelter a few blocks away, Mizuba said.

Still, the school adopted a reform model called "America's Choice" five years ago, and has made notable progress in test scores.

In 2002, the school achieved its first-ever adequate yearly progress rating under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and school officials are waiting to hear if they reached that goal in testing last spring.

"We've gone through the transformation, and I think we've gone over the hump," Mizuba said. "The old thinking was it really, really depends on the parent and the economic background and how much support you have at home."

While support from parents is still important, "we found that because we have the students for approximately six hours a day, we immerse them for two to two- and-half hours in language arts, and then the math and science also has language arts built in, of course. We were able to take all students and raise them to a higher level."

The average experience of teachers at the school is 13 years, but many have been in the profession for 20 to 25 years, Mizuba said.

• What are you most proud of: Staff that teams up to develop our school into a "student achievement" research-based, data-driven system that will keep raising the standard levels of performance for all students and staff.

• Our biggest challenge: Our ability as a school and system to keep all students, staff and community moving forward to meet and exceed our high standards of performance; keeping people healthy and counseling those who find it hard to progress.

• Everyone knows: Esther Kottke, our America's Choice design coordinator. She helps our school by monitoring what everyone needs to do, including the custodians and cafe workers.

• Best-kept secret: How everyone, from the principal to the office and custodial staffs, supports student achievement by reading the Principal's Book of the Month and works on the "Read To Succeed" campaign.

• What we need: Air conditioning for Building H and office; new/upgraded electrical for Building B; and more basketball baskets.

• Special events: "Read to Succeed" kickoff on Aug. 17; monthly "Read to Me" sessions; Parent-Teacher conferences, quarterly assemblies, year-end celebration.