Taylorville High School will join the growing list of schools to have a police presence when school returns to session in the fall.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Mayor Bruce Barry announced that the Taylorville School district had agreed to pay for a school resource officer to be placed in the junior and senior high schools next year.

Taylorville Police Chief Brian Hile explains how the school resource officer will be implemented in the fall, and the preparation the city, the police department and the school district will be doing in preparation for his first day.

Hile believes the school resource officer can make an impact in children’s lives starting in fifth grade, helping to try and prevent small issues from growing larger.

One Taylorville PD officer will be assigned to cover both Taylorville Junior High and Taylorville High School. The officer is expected to be trained and ready for the first day of classes for the 2018-19 school year.