Hope you enjoyed your extra days of summer vacation, Butler Area School District students.

A computer glitch days before classes were scheduled to resume on Thursday made bus routes unavailable to students and parents, resulting in Superintendent Brian White’s decision to postpone the start of the school year until Tuesday.

Parents were upset and angry, leaving some to scramble to make arrangements for their children. Some missed their child’s first day of kindergarten due to work schedules.

They were right to be angry. It was a major inconvenience for families who had every reason to trust the school schedule would be as announced.

White took responsibility for the fiasco, but it never should have happened in the first place.

Parents and taxpayers have a right to expect better from their school superintendent.

“I’ve had better days,” White told The Butler Eagle.

Considering the alternatives, White made a wise choice. He stepped back and analyzed the situation before making his decision.

Many parents felt bus routes should have been have mapped out earlier in the summer. White told The Eagle that was not possible. He said under the current system, homeroom assignments must be made prior to assigning bus routes.

Parents then receive a card with both pieces of information.

That’s changing.

White said next year, parents will receive two cards: one with the assignments and another with their child’s bus route.

This will allow preliminary bus cards to be sent several weeks earlier, leaving more time for parent feedback and revisions to be made.

It’s one of several recommendations White is mulling going forward.

White said he will present the school board with an analysis of what happened, his observations and his suggestions for preventing this from reoccurring.

School Board President Nina Teff said she expects the district to take a good, hard look at the software package it uses to help map the routes.

White said 30 people volunteered their time last weekend to help resolve the issue, and 40 more volunteered to come in this weekend to help if needed.

White apologized to parents and students and thanked the community for its support during this unfortunate situation.

He said people brought in food for the volunteers, and churches offered help as the district scrambled to right the routes.

That’s another good example of a community pulling together in a time of need.

“As ugly as this has been, certain parts have been beautiful,” White said.

— JGG