Millcreek Township school district in Pennsylvania recently armed 500 teachers with 16-inch baseball bats in the case of an active shooter. Lots of parents with children in this district are not a big fan of this move and think that teachers should take different measures to protect their children.

This policy was conducted by superintendent William Hall, that the bats are considered a “last resort”, for teachers who want to fight back. Just recently, in the Blue Mountain district in Pennsylvania, teachers were provided with rocks in the case of a school shooter coming in. These are both policies enacted recently after the Parkland High School shooting in Florida that occurred February 14th, which took the lives of over 17 people.

Freshman Mariella Romentez stated that she thinks this decision is, “Very stupid and a waste of time and energy.” Romentez states that “If the shooter is across the room are teachers supposed to throw the bat?”

Senior Martin Lowry stated that he feels like a better, “precaution” should’ve been taken in order to “ensure the safety of students in the case of an active shooter.”

Sophomore Ashanti Fullen stated that the bats are a “good concept but poorly executed, and something better should’ve been thought about.”

Parents expressed their dismay for the new policy, saying that with baseball bats it won’t cause the shooter to stop and say that they should not do this. $1,800 is how much it costs to arm the teachers with bats, it’s not money well spent. A parent-teacher association (PTA) board member suggests that there should be more discussions on how to protect schools against a school shooter. Pennsylvania law says that it’s illegal to possess weapons on school grounds, but now it seems like the law may be changed on whether to arm teachers or not in case of emergency.

Source: “Pennsylvania School District Arms Teachers – with Small Baseball Bats.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pennsylvania-school-district-gives-teachers-small-baseball-bats-last-resort-n864986.