They are a lifeline RPS cannot afford to sever.

At the start of the school year, they’re charged with rounding up missing students from the district’s “no show” list and placing them in the classroom, so the district can receive its proper funding.

To hear Peterson and his colleagues, the job description goes way beyond that. They’ve purchased clothing out of their own pockets so students can march, unashamed, across the stage to receive their high school diploma on graduation day. They find shoes. They direct families — including the homeless — to food and clothing. They pick up the homeless from hotels, drive homeless students to and from school, and transport parents to government agencies for services.

Peterson told the council about a Mosby Court girl who refused to go to school because she was being bullied. Two of his colleagues arrived at her home to find her mother unresponsive on the sofa. As emergency personnel attempted to revive her, his colleagues took the student upstairs, where they found a belt hanging from her closet in the configuration of a noose.

“This child was contemplating suicide,” he said.