Carly Miller is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Germantown Central School District may hire a full-time police officer to walk its halls. The action is being taken in light of concerns about school safety increase nationwide. District Superintendent Susan Brown and Business Administrator Jonathan Boehme made the proposal to hire a School Resource Officer to the Board of Education during a public meeting March 14. The police officer would begin work July 1, adding a daily law enforcement presence at the school, Brown said. The new position would cost the district $40,000, but could be reimbursed for roughly half that amount by the following school year if the state Department of Education accepts their aid proposal. The officer would be an employee of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department. “Schools are near and dear to my heart. We need to be there and protect and work with them and help them,” said Columbia County Sheriff David Bartlett. “It remains my goal to have a full-time deputy sheriff assigned to each and every public school in the county.” Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.