Like I said, better than nothing. There is nothing that will completely repel an attacker, you have to be willing to fight back.
If, as the article said, the bats are locked up...do you think a teacher will be holding the keys to unlock that cabinet as perpetrator enters, or have to look for them? Time is of essence when facing a loaded gun. I doubt this will help anyone. The bucket of rocks sitting on the floor accessible would be more effective, unless they are locked up too!
When someone points a loaded gun at you, there is only a fraction of seconds of lag time that you could respond with a loaded weapon. Finding a bat in a locked closet/cabinet...hahaha, yeah right! See new data:
http://www.forcescience.org/fsnews/178.html
A 16” bat is called a batton. It hurts, but doesn’t break bones or cave a skull. It’s WORSE than nothing, it’s a false sense of security that will get a teacher killed. Bit an armed person with a batton and you have bought a few seconds for your life sacrifice.
A sidearm is permanent and a regular baseball bat is at least lethal
It’s not better than nothing. Anyone with a bat in their hand is going to be the first to be shot.