dump the screen
Just so you can get a somewhat technical idea about the screen...
I read an article a while ago regarding factory screens over airflow sensors on the intake, and basically, they're useless. They're put there as extra protection for the idiot who decides to run without an airfilter, or mis-seals the air filter. So, the screen prevents a small rock from hitting the blower or intake manifold. When flow-tested, most stock screens are made out of a mesh that doesn't flow horribly well, usually resulting in a vacuum test in a loss of a small amount of vacuum, due to swirls around the screen filter. Again, this probably isn't going to up you and horsepower, but you can take it off and not worry. This article was in regards to lo-cost mod's by using a homemade vacuum tester, and with some cars using horribly engineered air intakes (...Audi...) or with some rip-off "racing" air intakes, they found that reshaping some plastic and dumping any unnecessary flow restrictions resulted in a few extra horsepower.
Late!
------Dylan