"I attended a local meeting and they all said I should put them back. So I did"
Take this response back to your local for verification.
Excluders go in where there is a flow predicted _and_ you choose to harvest
honey that season.
Where you do not harvest, leave them out.
For newer colonies, which I read this one is, it is maybe best to leave the
colony to fill both supers with stores and leave to winter, resetting to honey
production in the second year.
10,000 miles away the above is SOP for new colonies which are not used for
migration beekeeping.
Maybe the same fits your local model.
Cheers.
Bill