St. Francis High School in La Ca√±ada recently began construction on a new classroom annex, which will be funded by a $3.5 million Innovations in Education Capital Campaign announced in early December. The campaign — announced Dec. 2 in conjunction with Mass celebrated in the school chapel — will underwrite a second-story addition behind the Fr. Alphonsus O’Connor Memorial Gymnasium, allowing the all-boys’ high school to launch its highly-anticipated technology initiative.Each classroom in the new annex will offer approximately 900 square feet of instructional space as well as contemporary technology, such as interactive white boards, multi-media podiums with screens, sound system, video and document camcorders and rolling carts of mobile computing devices such as iPads, notebooks or laptops. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.Notre Dame HS reaches finals in international debate contestMembers of the Notre Dame High School debate team of Sherman Oaks have advanced to the finals of the “Elite 8” round of the Bickel & Brewer/New York University International Public Policy Forum (IPPF). This achievement has won the team an all-expenses-paid trip to the IPPF Finals in New York City taking place April 12-14. There, Notre Dame will compete for $10,000 and the right to be named the “World Champion.”Notre Dame was among 213 teams from 34 states and 29 countries who registered for this year’s IPPF competition, requiring essays on the topic, “Resolved: Adaptation should be the most urgent response to climate change.” The finals will focus on oral advocacy skills. The semifinals and final debate will be broadcast live from New York City at www.bickelbrewer.com/ippf on April 13. The final debate takes place at 3:30 p.m. EST and viewers can vote for the winning school.Providence HS selects Tony award-winning musical satire for spring performanceThe satirical musical comedy, “Urinetown,” opens mid-March for two weekends at Providence High School in Burbank. The musical won three Tony Awards in 2002 for Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Direction of a Musical and ran for three years on Broadway.The plot revolves around a major corporation in charge of water conservation that bans private toilets so that people have to pay to use public facilities, hurting poor people the most and causing a “Les Miserables” style revolt with an unpredictable ending. It addresses private greed and public service, poking fun at capitalism, politics and bureaucracy along the way.“We thought these were good topics to tear apart with the drama students in an educational setting, especially in an election year, said Dominic Catrambone, who partners with Jeremy Jackson at Discovery Onstage, the private company hired to run the Providence drama department a few years ago. Catrambone noted that the characters in the show make fun of the title as much as the audience will.The performances are scheduled March 15, 16, 22, 23 at 7 p.m., plus 2 p.m. matinee shows on March 16 and 23. Information: (818) 846-8141.{gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2013/0301/sfschools/{/gallery}