SWING AND A MISS

Pennsylvania School Arms Teachers With Baseball Bats

Officials said the bats will be used to “protect ourselves and our kids” from active shooters.

A Pennsylvania school district is swinging for the bad-ideas fences, arming 500 teachers with baseball bats as a means to ward of school shootings. Erie News Now reported this week that Millcreek School District distributed 16-inch bats as part of an active-shooter training program. The district’s superintendent William Hall said the bats serve as a “last resort” and are simply “an option and something we want people to be aware of.” Hall added: “Unfortunately, we're in a day and age where one might need to use them to protect ourselves and our kids,” referring to a recent spate of deadly school shootings, including a February massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 people dead."Part of the formula now is to fight back, and so I think the bats that were provided for the staff were symbolic of that,” Millcreek education official Jon Cacchione said of the plan. The bats will be locked up in each classroom, administrators said.