Teachers get bats as a reminder to fight back in a shooting

ERIE (AP) — A Pennsylvania school district has given its teachers small wooden baseball bats as a reminder to fight a school shooter with any weapon available should other options fail.

The superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District says the 16-inch bats are primarily symbolic, but the district did want to have a “consistent tool” for all teachers should they need to fight and attacker.

Superintendent William Hall tells the Erie Times-News the district’s revised school shooting response plan puts more emphasis on options other than “hiding and waiting.” The president of the local teachers union says he supports the move.

The district outside of Erie also had added additional security measures at school entrances.

Last month, another Pennsylvania district said it was arming teachers and students with buckets of rocks.