fall, all four of the middle schools in unincorporated

Coweta County should have police officers stationed on

the premises.

The Coweta

County Commission voted Tuesday morning to support

stationing a resource officer at each of the schools.

Currently, the county has one resource officer who

shuttles between the county's three middle school.

Sheriff

Mike Yeager estimated the cost of funding the three new

officers at just over $150,000 a year. The cost includes

salaries, benefits and equipment for the officers, along

with a vehicle for each.

Adding

three new officers would greatly improve the security at

the schools, the sheriff added.

"This

year we had a problem at East Coweta Middle School and

the resource officer was at Madras Middle. That's a long

way to drive," he said.

The

sheriff's department was able to send an officer to East

Coweta Middle, but Yeager said the real solution is

having an officer at each school.

The county

currently shares the personnel costs of the one middle

school resource officer with the Coweta County Board of

Education and Chairman Lawrence Nelms instructed staff to

try and reach a similar deal with the school board for

funding the new officers.

The

commissioners hailed the program as one that is truly

necessary.

"Middle

school is probably where a child is the most

impressionable," said Commissioner Robert Wood.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter said he had suggested

funding the middle school resource officers a few years

ago, but the proposal was dropped.

He said he

was glad to see it back before the commission and said

the idea had his full support.

The

commission supported the proposal unanimously and sent it

to the school board for its approval. If the funding

issues can be worked out, officers will be stationed in

August at Arnall Middle, East Coweta Middle, Madras

Middle, along with Smokey Road Middle, which opens this

fall.

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