The Maybrook Village Board unanimously approved stationing a police officer at the Maybrook Alternative Learning Center (formerly Maybrook Elementary School) when school starts next month.

The officer will be at the school seven hours a day, starting Sept. 2, for each of the 180 days school is in session for the 2022-23 year. The action comes after the Valley Central School Board approved an inter-municipal agreement earlier this month to contract with those municipalities that house a Valley Central school. Maybrook approved the one-year agreement during Monday’s village board meeting.

Town of Montgomery Supervisor Brian Maher had earlier said the town would provide officers for all of Valley Central’s schools, but school district officials decided local police officers were the better solution and the Maybrook Village Board agreed, noting that Maybrook officers already know the school and its staff.

But Maybrook Police Dept. Chief Arnold “Butch” Amthor noted that the department had not anticipated this move, especially as it comes in the middle of the village’s fiscal year.

“This will create some temporary gaps,” he said. “And we will have some additional (part-time) hires coming. But we are ready to go. I am confident we will be able to perform the task.”

Amthor said the officer stationed at the school may not always be the same, given the part-time nature of the job.