Parents of Cobb County students soon will have some say in picking the people who will run their schools. The school system is implementing a new process for hiring principals that will require parental input.  Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and his administration will make the final hiring recommendation as before, and the school board will retain final authority on each hiring.

At first, the two children couldn’t agree how long it would take to wash 1,000 dishes, but they ultimately solved their math problem together, working with colored pens on a school desk-sized sheet of paper. The two 10-year-olds and the rest of the children in the fifth-grade class at Timber Ridge Elementary School were bobbing on their feet.

When Frank Wills left the Marines in 2004,  he enrolled in a community college and used the federal GI Bill to earn a degree. But he struggled with the adjustment from combat to the classroom and found few people on campus who could ease the transition.

A lot has changed since 1966, when Aaron Cuthbert graduated from Marietta's Lemon Street High School, then the only black high school in Cobb County. But one thing that hasn't changed is the class members' devotion to one another, as their 45-year reunion this weekend will mark the ninth time the class has gotten together.

Fewer metro Atlanta school districts are expecting multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls in 2011-12, welcome news for teachers and other school employees who last year faced job loss or fewer working days. This time last year, about 1,500 metro Atlanta teachers were awaiting news about layoffs in what was an unprecedented budget year.

Over the next few months, school boards from four of the state’s largest districts will interview and select new superintendents, but the degree to which the public will influence those decisions remains unclear. Cobb, DeKalb, Atlanta and Fulton are expected to have new leaders by July.

Families from Cobb County can research more than 1,000 available social services using the school district’s new Family Resource Database, www.cobbk12.org/FamilyResources. The service is part of the “Success For All Students” project, a mental health support program funded by an $8.

The Cobb County school board has several meetings planned for the week of March 7-11. Board members will hold a budget session from 5-7 p.m. Monday at the district's headquarters 514 Glover St. in Marietta. Board member Kathleen Angelucci will hold a town hall meeting at North Cobb High School in the media center at 7:00 p.

The Cobb County school board will hold a meeting from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the district’s 2012 budget. Early projections show a $20 to $35 million deficit due to declining property taxes and decreased state revenues. The district is also planning for five employee furlough days and delayed salary increases.

Members of Kell High School's robotics team are using a $10,000 grant to build a machine that could aid in the cleanup of oil spills. Carlie Schulter, a junior at the Cobb County school and program manager for the group called InvenTeam, explains that the robotics team had already built a remotely operated vehicle to pick up trash in bodies of water.

Cobb County Superintendent Fred Sanderson received the Life Achievement Award by the National Parent Teacher Association, the organization’s highest honor. Abby Shiffman, co-president of the East Cobb County Council of PTAs, nominated Sanderson for the award because of his commitment to children.

Anthony Pearson, a counselor at Sky View Elementary in Cobb County, was named one of the Top 10 school counselors in the nation by the American School Counselor Association. Candidates are judged on creative school counseling innovations, effective counseling programs, leadership skills and contributions to student advancement.

Cobb County Schools released a proposal this week to buy property between Ward Street and Atlanta Road to construct a new Smyrna elementary school. The $7.8 million purchase borders Campbell High School and calls for the creation of playing fields and open space for both schools.

Lassiter High School is one of 22 schools in Georgia named a 2010 School of Excellence by the state Department of Education. Lassiter was selected because student reading and math scores were in the top 10 percent of the state. The school will receive a $1,000 from Georgia Natural Gas and will get to fly the School of Excellence flag.

A fourth grader at Bells Ferry Elementary was named the first-place winner in the state’s bus safety poster contest for grades third through fifth. Paulina Rivera qualified for the honor by winning the school-level and district-level competition. This year’s theme was “Be Aware: Know the Danger Zones.

The Cobb County Board of Education will vote Thursday whether to allow the construction of a new T-Mobile cell phone tower at Compton Elementary. District officials say it is a good source of revenue for the school, which will get 60 percent of the $450,000 payment due to the district over 15 years.

The Cobb County Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the district's central office, 514 Glover St. in Marietta. The board will vote on the purchase of 100 72-passenger buses to replace older models that are out of service. Board members will also discuss revamping the vacation policy for 12-month employees.

Nicole Brungardt, Patron Hatcher, and Rebekah Rahn, students from the Cobb Performance Learning Center, were named regional winners in the Communities In Schools Student Achievement Month contest. The competition is to reward students who are struggling in school, to help them see the importance of achievement and to help them set new goals.

Georgia’s integrated math curriculum could be history. Responding to parental complaints and the governor’s concern over graduation rates, state Superintendent John Barge on Thursday introduced a plan that would allow local school districts to choose how they will teach math.

The Georgia Charter Schools Committee postponed discussion of an appeal by three petitioners until the state gets more clarity on its power to reverse the denials of its alternate authorizer. The petitioners were hoping to serve students next fall. State Board of Education members serving on the committee said Thursday that they didn’t want to waste the time of those seeking appeals, because they weren’t sure what the impact of their vote would be.

Students at Marietta city schools  students will have to stay in class an hour longer to make up for days missed when schools were closed last week. The Marietta Board of Education on Tuesday approved School Superintendent Emily Lembeck’s recommendation to add one hour to the school day for a 13-day period for Jan.

Cobb County Schools has made two changes to the school calendar to account for days missed because of this month’s winter weather. Feb. 2, previously an early release day for students, will now be a full day. Students will also have to report on March 18, previously a teacher workday.

Metro Atlanta school kids fresh off a weeklong snow-cation may find at least one or two of those days added back to their calender, as school officials began Friday to sort out how to make up for lost class time. With students already scheduled to be off Monday for the federal Martin Luther King Jr.

Cobb County Schools released preliminary 2012 budget information Friday, and based on early projections, the district is looking at a $20 million to $35 million shortfall. The figures are based on assumptions about state and local revenues. It assumes property tax revenue will drop 7 percent and the millage rate will increase to 20 mills.

“Big Things Start Little” is the motto of Kennesaw Charter Science and Math Academy, but it also personifies the school’s expansion on historic land owned by a former slave. In a few weeks the public charter school will break ground on a new facility on about 33 acres of land along Cobb Parkway being purchased from the Bostick family, one of Kennesaw’s oldest African American families.