There really were no options - the best approach is to save as many as possible while defeating the terrorists. They cannot be appeased. All the people in that school were likely to be killed had Russia not acted decisively.
I fully agree. The only choice they had was to storm the school and ensure (to the best of their ability) that as few hostages as possible were hurt or killed. One sad part (among many) about this whole thing, though, is that the MSM will portray the Russian military and police as the evil, impatient ones and let the Chechen psychos off the hook. Terrible....
Prayers for the children.