An agreement between the Village of Walden and the Valley Central School District will place a full-time school resource officer at the Walden Elementary School.

The SRO agreement is just one of a series of agreements with the municipalities within the School district to place officers at its various schools. The security agreements come in the wake of a May incident at the Montgomery Elementary School. That incident led to the arrest of an 11 year-old and sparked concerns about school safety.

The Walden agreement, approved last week by the village board, calls for the school district to pay the village $54,280 per year to provide a police officer at the school for seven hours per day when school is in session. According to the contract, the village will provide a substitute if the regular SRO is not available. If no substitute is available, a Town of Montgomery Police Officer will serve as the substitute.

Walden Police Chief William Herlihy said two Walden Police Officers are already prepared to serve as SROs, and there would be “at least five” available when school starts.

The school district has similar agreements with the Village of Montgomery to provide a school resource officer for the Montgomery Elementary School and with the Village of Maybrook to provide a SRO at the Alternative Learning Center at the former Maybrook Elementary School. Last week, the Montgomery Town Board approved an agreement for the school district to reimburse the town to place school resource officers at Berea and East Coldenham Elementary Schools.

Though the East Coldenham School is actually located in the Town of Newburgh, the Newburgh Town Board was expected to give permission for a Town of Montgomery officer to be placed there. Montgomery Town Supervisor Brian Maher said the neighboring municipality may be asked to help offset that cost, but noted that most East Coldenham students do reside in the Town of Montgomery. The Newburgh Town Board, Monday night, approved the intermunicipal agreement to allow a Town of Montgomery officer at the East Coldenham School.

The Town of Montgomery Police Department also provides SROs at the Valley Central High School and Middle School, at its own expense, and will continue to do so.