The Middlesex Borough School District has decided to add armed officers to its schools in the coming school year.

The plan is to hire and train five officers for the district’s five school buildings.

They will be Class Three officers, which means they are retired police officers who will be trained in school security, threat analysis and student safety.

Middlesex Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk says the idea of adding armed police has been discussed for many years but pushed forward following the school shooting in Minneapolis this week.

The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School left two children dead and 18 injured.

Jessica Lauria is a parent in Middlesex, with two boys in the school system - a ninth grader and sixth grader.

She says she's been waiting for this addition.

“It’s about time that we have a little more protection in our township. A gun can do a lot of things to people, enough kids have been getting killed, we need to protect ours,” said Lauria.

The Middlesex district has had resource officers already working in schools with a policeman stopping by daily.

That will continue in the fall until the new officers are in place within the next few months.