Gaston Caperton, president of The College Board, which administers the SAT college entrance exam, will speak from 6 to 7:45 p.m. July 26 in Classroom 2 at the William S. Richardson Law School at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

Under Caperton's leadership, the SAT has added new demands, including a new writing section — the essay — a higher-level math and reading passages.

Caperton's talk — "Ivory-Tower Ethics: A Conversation with Gaston Caperton" — is part of the Will Weinstein Summer Guest Speaker Series.

Before his appointment to the College Board in 1999, Caperton was twice governor of West Virginia and built one of the country's largest privately owned insurance companies. And he conquered a learning disability to do it all.

Seating is limited, so reservations are recommended. Please call 956-6902.

PARENTS URGED TO GET BUS PASSES

Only about half the number of students who rode school buses last year have applied to do so this year, and officials are urging parents to pick up their bus passes before school starts.

"We encourage parents who have not yet picked up bus passes for children to go to their school today and take care of this," said Aaron Kimura, the Education Department's manager of student transportation services, in a news release. "Even students who are entitled to free bus passes are required to apply for a bus pass and show it to their bus driver every morning and every afternoon."

New rules that take effect this year require parents to pay for their children's bus passes — at their children's schools — before school starts. In the past, parents mailed in bus pass payments to the Department of Education's central office in Honolulu.

Bus passes cost $31.50 per academic quarter or $119.70 for the full year, the news release said. The first day of school for most public school students will be July 30, July 31 or Aug. 1.

MATHLETES FROM ISLES COMPETING

A delegation of Kamehameha Schools Kapalama high school students is competing in the 37th Mu Alpha Theta National Convention, which ends Saturday

Calvin Fukuhara, Kamehameha Schools Kapalama teacher and math team adviser, said Kamehameha is one of 50 schools participating. Held each summer, the national math contest features varied formats, including multiple choice tests, team and individual subject exams and even a speech competition. Kamehameha Schools last year finished in 12th place.

The weeklong Mu Alpha Theta National Convention is host to between 500 and 600 students.

MPI PRESIDENT CHOSEN AS FELLOW

Mid-Pacific Institute President Joe C. Rice has been selected as a 2008 Klingenstein Visiting Fellow at Columbia University and will join 20 independent school leaders from across the country at Columbia's Teachers College next January for two weeks of study among professional peers.

The Klingenstein Center is a graduate school of study, research and leadership development in independent school education and celebrates its 30th anniversary during the 2007-08 school year.

"This program is among the most prestigious fellowships within the national independent school academic community," said Robert M. Witt, executive director of the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools.