VANCOUVER, Wash. — For two decades, Tony Jacobs has been walking Vancouver school grounds — and always with a song on his lips.
Jacobs is a district resource officer for the Vancouver School District. His latest assignment is at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (VSAA).
Officer Jacobs’ priority is to provide security for students. That starts with drop-off time in the morning. But pretty much everything Tony does, he does with a song.
“They always want to hear a song, so I try and come up with a song per day for 'em, and they smile," he said.
Jacobs spent most of his career at two high schools in the district, Fort Vancouver and Hudson's Bay high schools, getting some notoriety for his way of helping kids cope with the challenges of life and being a student.
Now at VSAA, which has students from 6th through 12th grade, the officer’s methods have remained the same.
Growing up in West Seattle, Jacobs comes from a musical family. He thought he'd play in football in the NFL, but started singing after another kid got him to join choir in high school.
“That guy who told me to come join the choir winded up being Kenny Gorelick — which we call now Kenny G,” Jacobs said with a smile.
And as they say, the rest is history.
With all the singing and friendly greetings, Tony fit right in at VSAA, where he said he gets about a 95% wave-back rate.
“They've been that way the whole school year; seriously that's what I’m going to miss too,” said Jacobs.
He's going to miss the waves because he is retiring. But he's not done just yet.
On a recent morning he could be heard singing to students, "I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, I’ve got the month of May." Motown and oldies are generally what can be heard coming from the campus crooner.
"We're Tony’s biggest fans, yeah because he's awesome, he's cool," said a pair of young students.
“He has the voice of an angel, 10 out of 10," said another student.
And yet another said, "Tony’s retiring and I’m really upset about this because he's like my favorite person on campus."
Jacobs said he loves his job, which is all about connecting with kids. Along with the songs, typical greetings from the resource officer include, "How you doing?" and "I want you to have a great day today."
For 20 years, it's been working.
"It's definitely made it a lot better this year because coming out of COVID it was really hard for me, but when I met Tony it was like a lot better," said one girl, an 8th grader at the school.
The joyful work continues into the school day. With just a few weeks left, Tony’s been making some special appearances; joining with a group from choir, singing an appropriately positive song.
When you get down to it, Tony is a performer in a security officer's uniform. Giving an encore song, then fist bumps for everyone, before moving to another class to sing some more.
Tony also works the hallways and checks in with students, often kids who need a sympathetic ear. It’s all in a day's work for a guy whose main reason for hanging it up may be the result of 45 years refereeing youth sports.
“This knee right here, I need a total knee replacement,” said Jacobs.
Of course, he officiated games the Tony Jacobs way:
"I’m known as the referee that dances, I’m like ‘ah, oh yeah’, I make some serious moves!"
But when he's all fixed up, he may have trouble staying away from school.
"Michael Jordan came out of retirement so you never know, you never know," Jacobs said.
Despite the vicissitudes of time, he still loves what he does for the kids.
“I like to see everyone happy, and that's the whole point — just reaching out to them," Jacobs said. "People have different techniques to get to students, mine is singing.”
Tony’s last day with the district is June 16. Before then, he’ll be celebrating his retirement by singing a show at a gathering at Black Angus restaurant in downtown Vancouver, at 7 p.m. on Friday June 10.