Safety and Security Officer Bob Sponaugle may not look like his title, but for 13 years, his daily routine has made students at PFHS feel safe.

“Why did the math book look sad?” Every morning at Potomac Falls High School (PFHS), one thing is certain: the students who enter will be greeted with a dad joke. It gets most to look up from their phones, if only for a second. Many will offer a smile. A few will take a guess at the answer to the pun. But a lack of student participation doesn’t stop Safety and Security Officer Robert “Bob” Sponaugle from showing up each day — armed with a new joke.

Standing at 5 foot 6 inches with hair so strawberry that it looks orange, wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a bright smile buried under a bushy beard, “Safety and Security Officer” may not be the first title to come to mind during an encounter with Bob. 

Driven by an urge to help people, Bob began his 40-year-long career in law enforcement right after he earned his criminology degree from Bluefield University. He began as a police officer with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) in 1986. During his time with the MWAA, Bob worked as a special operations airport police officer at Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport. As a member of special operations, he also did dignitary protection for 10 years, escorting dignitaries ranging from George W. Bush to the Dalai Lama.

One of Bob’s favorite stories to tell about his time in dignitary protection involves Arnold Schwarzenegger, George W. Bush, and a toboggan. It has practically become an urban legend at PFHS — everyone knows the story, but can anyone prove it?

“The deputy chief at my department had a wall of pictures in his office, including a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Bush tobogganing down a hill, and he had Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature on it,” said Bob. “We were doing dignitary protection for President Bush, and the chief says, ‘Hey, can you speak with the Secret Service and ask them if you could get this signed by President Bush?’” 

Always of service, Bob proceeded to meet President Bush and not only get his chief the signature he asked for, but Bob got the story behind the photo of the two unlikely sledding partners.

Bob’s position in special operations also gave him opportunities to better the community.  He helped facilitate fun events that had a larger communal impact including the United Airlines “trip to the North Pole.” This event had children with terminal illnesses board a plane that would then take off, turn around and land at a different gate decorated to mimic the North Pole, complete with a Santa Claus and other iconic characters. “I remember one year I got to be McGruff the Crime Dog,” said Bob. “I really liked doing stuff like that because I really just like to see people happy. That’s kind of my goal in life…You can’t always make people happy, but I try.”

During his time in law enforcement, Bob’s own two children inspired him to volunteer in various youth activities: sports coaching, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts. “I’ve always been active with kids, and so I got to meet a lot of kids in the community before I came to Potomac Falls,” Bob said. “I really enjoyed working with kids, so I see myself here.”

After 26 years, Bob retired from his job with MWAA and started working at PFHS in 2012. 

Bob doesn’t see his job as an opportunity to crack down on troublemakers, although his daily tasks do include dealing with graffiti, damage to school property, keeping “unwanted visitors” from the building, monitoring students, and addressing incidents in bathrooms and classrooms. Even in his previous jobs outside of the school building, Bob always focused on helping people. “A lot of people get into law enforcement because they want to write tickets. They want to arrest people or something like that, but I didn’t see that part as being the primary part of the job. The job is helping someone broken down on the side of the road, helping somebody who’s a victim of a crime. Those were the good parts,” he said. 

According to Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), safety and security officers are required to patrol LCPS facilities, manage safety alarms, monitor criminal and hazardous activities, and work with local law enforcement. Despite what students may think, the job does not entail issuing consequences to students. 

“I cannot give in-school restriction. I cannot suspend anybody. I walk around. I talk to kids. I try to make sure they’re having a good day, making sure where they’re supposed to be so they’re getting instructional time,” Bob said. “Even though people look at me and say, ‘Oh, it’s Bob,’ and run the other way, my goal is not to get them in trouble…My goal is to talk with them and encourage them to be where they’re supposed to be and encourage people to make good choices, so we’re safe in school. We want everyone to feel like they are in a good place.” 

This is why he stands in front of Potomac Falls every morning, rain or shine, without fail to tell a joke. “I try to start people’s day with a smile, with something funny. Smiling is great medicine, you know? Even a forced smile,” said Bob. “And it makes me happy too, just seeing people smile. Whatever I can do to help someone get a better start to the day.”

It’s a mutual relationship, a sort of symbiosis. “I am a much better person now, after 13 years being in the school system and working with kids, than I was many years before that,” Bob said. “So, I get a lot out of this, too.” The job has made him a changemaker; he uses his position at the school to set students up for “much greater things in life.”

Bob’s favorite part about the job is when those troublesome seniors finally graduate, and then come back to visit. “I get to see their success, whether that was finishing college, going through the military, or doing whatever else they’re doing, when they come back and visit,” Bob said. “And they tell me about the things I had said to them [at Potomac Falls] and they say how impactful that was. You don’t think about it at the time, but just having them come back and tell you a story about where they’ve been is pretty awesome. It’s pretty impactful to me.”

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“Because it has too many problems.” The math book, that’s why it looked sad. Bob is a fixture at the PFHS entrance helping the students that, like the math book, come in every day with their own set of problems. “They’ve had a bad night’s sleep, or they didn’t get their assignment done, or they know they have a big test or assignment coming, so they’re a little bit stressed,” he said. “Make them laugh, make them smile, and then that lowers their [emotional] levels, so that they’re better prepared to go into their day before they start to overflow. And that’s the way I look at it,” Bob said.