The Cobb school board is set to vote on just four items Thursday night, including $90,000-plus in change orders for two schools currently under construction; Dowell Elementary Principal Janis Komara’s resignation; and the appointment of a new principal at Vaughan Elementary.

The board will also recognize school bus driver Michael Graham for winning the Georgia State School Bus Driving Skills competition in July.

Among items that the board will vote on, Deputy Superintendent Chris Ragsdale will recommend the board approve $90,171 in construction change orders at Mableton Elementary and Wheeler High School.

At Mableton, he is asking the board to approve a $107,968 student drop-off canopy that would be paid for with money from the SPLOST III contingency fund.

At Wheeler, he recommends building a bus canopy valued at $410,250 and culinary arts classroom valued at $633,953, and cut out annex modifications and a practice gym, which will save $1 million and create a credit of about $17,000.

These items were alternates that were not included in the original bid for some unknown reason, Ragsdale previously said.

He also said Tuesday that the Facility and Technology Committee, which oversees SPLOST-related projects, approved the change orders on Monday.

In other business, the school district is dealing with yet another principal resignation, this time at Dowell Elementary, which is on West Sandtown Road near Macland Road, in west Cobb.

Jay Dillon, a spokesman with the district, said only that Komara’s resignation is a “personnel matter.”

However, in Cobb Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa’s weekly Board Update, he advised board members that former Cobb Schools Deputy Superintendent Alice Stouder will be the interim principal.

Stouder, who retired after 34 years with Cobb at the end of last school year, was serving as interim at Chalker Elementary in Kennesaw before a permanent principal was named there earlier this month.

The Dowell principal opening is posted on the district’s job website. The job requires a minimum of five years of “successful” educational experience and three years of administrative experience. The job pays between $66,470 and $108,824, and applications are due by Aug. 30.

Additionally, the board will be considering Hinojosa’s recommendation for a new principal at Vaughan Elementary in Powder Springs, but the nominee’s name is not being released before the board votes.

Also Thursday, the board will recognize bus driver Michael Graham, who won a state competition for his bus driving skills over the summer.

“As the Georgia State Champion, (Graham) competed this past July against 78 other contestants from the United States and Canada at the International Competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, placing 10th,” Dillon said Tuesday. “The competition consisted of 12 driving skill maneuvers, pre-trip inspection and a written exam.”

Graham has also won Cobb’s Buss Road-e-o the past two years and has been driving for Cobb the last seven years, on routes for Murdock Elementary, Dodgen Middle and Walton High schools.

The school board meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday with public comments in the boardroom at 514 Glover St. in Marietta.

(Reprinted from the Marietta Daily Journal, August 22, 2012. Written by Lindsay Field. Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Short agenda set tonight for school board )