Millcreek School district was looking for a home-run when they handed out baseball bats to teachers and administrators last week.  The plan came as a reaction to recent school shootings, that in particular the February 14 shooting in which 17 high school students were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas of Parkland, Florida.  It turned out they brought a baseball bat to a gun fight.

 

While adding to the growing number of school-related tragedies taking place in modern America, the Stoneman Douglas shooting, in particular, sparked a nation-wide debate on gun-control and legislation surrounding the subject. Since then the debated has localized, when last week Erie News Now (ENN) initially reported on the school district training and arming 500 teachers with 16-inch black baseball bats.

 

William Hall, the district's superintendent, told ENN that the bats were “primarily symbolic”, as a last line of defense against the threat of potential violence. The district saw this symbolic measure as a genuine gesture to quell current frustrations felt with school administrators and their perceived slowed reaction to stop these events from taking place. But parents and local leaders were quick to point out the flaws the proposed plan of action.

 

"It's not going to make some shooter stop and say, 'Hey, I probably shouldn't go in and do this,'" Jo Ellen Barish, a local PTA president and whose child attends Millcreek middle school.

 

Millcreek isn’t the only school district to have its idea shot down. Last month, the Blue Mountain School district near Allentown, PA received national attention and criticism when it planned to arm teachers with buckets of rocks milled from a nearby creek to ward off potential shooters. The school has since announced a new security presence in place of stoning measure.

 

Pennsylvania PTA board member Bonnie Fagan, whose son graduated from Millcreek high-school last spring, told NBC News she felt "sad and disappointed" that teachers were being outfitted with bats. She went on to say the reported $1,800 cost for the items was not money well-spent, citing that more discussions surrounding this debate and how to properly prepare teachers for future circumstances are needed along with more active measures to ensure students’ safety in the classroom. Fagan said, ”Am I going to get out my bat that's in a locked cabinet or my bucket of rocks or slide something under the door to lock it to stop someone?" Fagan asked. "How effective is any of this?”

 

Aside from the effectiveness of these action plans, others have argued that teachers shouldn’t be seen as a ‘last line of defense’ in the first place. Dolores McCracken, whose state union represents more than 187,000 teachers and educators in Pennsylvania, has argued previously that "teachers are not trained law enforcement officers — their job is to educate children and act as role models.”

 

Pennsylvania law prohibits individuals from carrying firearms on school grounds, but lawmakers have been looking into amending such laws citing the rising frequency of these events in recent history. Proposed changes would give the option to individual school districts to rule as they see fit in regards to arming teachers, but for now, the districts will continue to debate the effectiveness of sticks and stones.