COBB COUNTY - Three Cobb teachers and a principal are being honored for their efforts in leading classrooms and communities.

Principal Steven Miletto of Osborne High School, who is high school principal of the year for the state of Georgia, is one of three finalists for the nationwide award.

Miletto, who is in his sixth year at Osborne, was in Arlington, Va., yesterday for interviews with judges for the award, presented by MetLife and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The winner will be announced in September and will receive a $3,500 grant for his or her school.

In the Cobb district, one teacher from each of the three school level have been selected as teachers of the year. They are Dr. Michaela D'Aquanni-Swift of Russell Elementary; Linda Bonstein of East Cobb Middle; and Kelly Bramblett of Allatoona High.

D'Aquanni-Swift joined Russell Elementary in 2006, bringing nearly two decades of experience as a special-education teacher. She has also previously spent a year volunteering at the Isha Home School in India.

"I am so, so honored to represent the teachers at Russell and elementary teachers in Cobb," D'Aquanni-Swift said. "My grandparents were born in Italy and came over here with dreams that their family would one day be successful, and without my family's encouragement and my son and husband, who have been so understanding, I never could have gotten such an award. Even though I'll be the one standing up there to get the award, I'm really representing so many other people."

Bonstein, the middle school teacher of the year, has taught at East Cobb for seven years and serves as a before-school tutor, and sponsors the school's Student Forum and Odyssey of the Mind programs.

"I model what I want my students to become. If I expect hard work from them, then I need to be willing to also put forth extra efforts as well, and I do," Bonstein said in a statement released by the district.

Cobb's high school teacher of the year is Bramblett, a special education teacher at Allatoona. Bramblett grew up in the Cobb County system, attending Teasley Elementary and Griffin Middle and graduating from Campbell High. Bramblett recently received the Tommy Nobis Center's highest honor, the Governors Award, for her service to the disabled.

"It is my desire to see students with disabilities become gainfully employed after high school and empower them to live an independent life," Bramblett said in the district's news release. "If I have instilled responsibility and initiative in my students, despite their cognitive disabilities, then they will be successful, and so will I."

Teachers at each individual school nominate their own teachers of the year, and one teacher from each level is selected by a committee of administrators.

The District's Teacher of the Year will be announced on Monday.