I am sure they have agonized and perhaps gone toe to toe in coming to this decision.
We have an opportunity to provide an additional level of confidence by putting some epoxy on it,, the main concern is that were they to actually cause more damage by accidentally hitting some other tiles, they could actually make it worse... the teacher is running the arm or is one of the main operators, If I am not mistaken.
The location is not in an area that will be subjected to as much heat in the areodynamic flow as it is on some spots on the shuttle on re-entry.
Touch call.
They are on an aggressive launch program, having this thing offline for repairs either way is bad enough, that’s why they get paid the big bucks.
They’ll be fine.