ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Price Middle School wants to create a better and safer environment for students, but they're not doing it with security guards or metal detectors.
They've brought in dozens of mentors as part of a program called Operation Take Back.
On Tuesday, the volunteer mentors met for their orientation.
The program is a response to the shooting outside the school in January.
An injured student was treated and released at the hospital, but the chaos and panic that erupted that day really hit home with a lot of people in the community.
Michael Langford is the president of United Youth Adult Conference. He is one of the volunteer mentors.
"We saw our children and the hurt on their faces. We saw them crying out for assistance and we have the responsibility to come back and give back to the community," said Langford.
In this case, all they have to do is be there for the kids. It's an option teachers said not all students have.
"It takes a village to raise a child. They need to know that other people care about them. They see us every single day and we discipline them, we praise them, we get on to them, but they really need to know that someone else really does care," said Tammy Rosado with Price Middle School.
The plan is for the mentors to meet with the kids during school hours to talk about school, family and just overall life.
Schools officials said they don't have set criteria yet for the mentors to go over, but they have a few ideas.
"How to be a young man? How to interact with people? The proper way to dress, proper way to interact with adults and other students," said Rosado.
But Langford said it's not just about teaching and telling cool stories.
"We're not only to give advice, but we are going to be here to listen to our young people and what they are saying, and that's something we often fail to do," said Langford.
And even though the kids don't have much school left this year, administrators said it can still make a big difference.
"I've been doing this for 41 years and I've not seen anything to this magnitude. That really excites me and gives me hope," said Sterling Christy, the school's principal.
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