Best wishes, Butler School Superintendent Dr. Brian White.

You can talk about “you’re-damned if-you-do and-damned-if-you-don’t” situations, but there is no worse position to be caught in than deciding whether to require or forbid masks in the place where you may be the deciding vote (if there even is a vote).

White is stuck in one of the worst spots of all because he is in the final position for making that decision for our kids as well as the faculty and administration.

Of course, the school board, composed of dedicated community volunteers, get a say in the matter. But you know that old saying that the “buck stops here,” and in this case it stops with White. His chances of making everyone happy are less likely than his chances of making no one happy.

White has been recognized and even honored for his handling of student needs and concerns during the nearly 2-year-old pandemic. Now a new school year and a new variant of the virus bring to his office new challenges.

White does not seem to have any intention of shying away from his responsibilities by pointing fingers at others or going into hiding. He makes himself available and his positions clear. He has the school district business and the students’ welfare fully in his thoughts and actions.

Our community, as well as others, have clamored for local control of these issues, because either we didn’t like the governor’s decisions or just because he was of the opposite political party. So now we have a decision-maker using his best judgement and honest opinion to do his job.

Let’s hope the community supports him and whatever decisions he makes, at least until the state steps in and issues mandates. But when that happens (and it will), please don’t forget that White and the school district were ready and willing to make it a local decision, even though there was a 0% chance to win the approval of all parents.

Yes, Dr. White: Best wishes.

— RV