The Pelham school district contracted with Briger Security Services to provide three unformed security guards to work in the middle school and high school after it wasn’t able to recruit enough new monitors, according to district officials.

In an email to families Monday, Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ said the district sought to fill vacant positions over the past several months, was successful in hiring some individuals but still remained “short staffed in our security monitor ranks.”

Briger has “substantial experience” working in schools and has provided unformed staff to several local districts, Champ said. “All Briger employees who will be working in our district will be vetted through the same processes as our current staff” and will be trained by administrators “so that they are familiar with the culture of respect and belonging that is fundamental in our schools,” she said.

Champ said the school system will continue to seek candidates for open monitor positions, noting many of the current employees in those positions “have deep ties to the Pelham community.”

The Briger security guards are uniformed while district-employed security staff are not. The guards monitor the hallways and entrances to the building.

The new security staff, who started in the building Monday, are paid $32.95 an hour, according to a district spokesman.

The effectiveness of the new approach will be reviewed going forward, Champ said.

According to a company-provided description on Yelp, “Briger Security specializes in providing security guard services for educational facilities. We have been providing our services to various school districts for over eight years.”

Briger President Brian Foley has 18-plus years experience in the security guard industry, the Yelp post. Briger does not appear to have an active website. It merged with K.H. Security Solutions in September 2016, according to a LinkedIn post by Peter Moreno, chief executive officer of the new company, K.H. Briger Security.