DALTON, Ga. — Dalton Public Schools will start the new school year with four school resource officers (SROs), up from three during the past school year, under an agreement approved Monday night by the City Council. The new SRO will be assigned to Dalton High School.

Council members approved the agreement 4-0. It calls for the school system to pay 75 percent of the salary and benefits of the officers, which is unchanged from the prior agreement.

The school system had wanted to add four SROs, bringing its total to seven. School officials began to focus on improving security following the arrest of former teacher Randal Davidson in February for firing a gun through a window inside his classroom at Dalton High School during the school day. Davidson was alone in the classroom and no one was injured. Davidson is due in court today for arraignment.

Assistant Police Chief Chris Crossen told council members the department does not have the manpower to add four SROs.

“We have to make sure that our patrol shifts are staffed adequately before we can reassign someone to the schools,” he said.

Crossen said the patrol division is five officers short.

Officers will be able to sign up to work off-duty at the schools, and Crossen said the school system has agreed to pay those who do work off-duty.

“They will have those four permanent officers, and we believe that we will be able to provide them with three additional officers on most days,” he said.

School system Director of Communications Pat Holloway said the fourth SRO will be assigned to Dalton High School.

“We will have two at Dalton High, one at Morris Innovative High School and one at Dalton Middle School,” she said.

Those officers who sign up to work off-duty will be assigned to the elementary schools.

“Each of them will have two elementary schools each,” Holloway said.

Crossen said the goal is to add one more SRO before the end of the school year and two more at the start of the next school year.

“We currently have five people in training,” he said. “If they all complete their training and we don’t lose anyone, we can meet those needs a lot quicker.”