When Officer John Little first became School Resource Officer at Oak Harbor High School, his daughter, Taylor, started her freshman year.

Approximately 10 years later, he recently resumed his duties as SRO and another daughter, Haylee, is going through her freshman year.

He decided to resume the position after the former resource officer, Larry Fergeson, was promoted to sergeant.

“I just like hanging with the kids,” Little said. He is spending his first days on the job building a rapport with students. He also decorated his office with his collection of pigs, and a container full of suckers is ready for when students come to visit.

He spent six years as SRO at the high school before transferring back to patrol. He has a accrued lot of experience with children by coaching soccer over the years. He has been with the Oak Harbor Police Department for 19 years as a commissioned officer and two years as a reserve officer. He also spent a year working for the Coupeville Marshal’s Office. Prior to that, he served seven years in the Navy.

Little was named interim School Resource Officer, and he will serve in that role until the end of the school year. That gives the school an officer who is familiar with the high school. He said he plans to apply for the permanent position when it comes open later this spring.

Lt. John Dyer said Little was chosen on an interim basis because of his extensive knowledge of the high school.

The police department and the school district share the costs of stationing an officer at the school and will work together this spring to find a permanent replacement for Fergeson. The Oak Harbor School District will pay approximately $47,000 for its half of the officer program.

“We want them involved in any selection,” Dyer said of the school district.

He said the SRO is a successful program. An officer becomes familiar with the population and unique problems that arise in an area that houses 1,600 students and more than a 100 employees.

“It’s almost a small city in and of itself,” Dyer said.