The Star-Ledger • Sunday, August 25, 2002

Parents helping their children cope with the observance of Sept. 11 may wonder whether the kids should attend school that day. Students will be facing what promises to be a difficult day in a new classroom, with a new teacher and new classmates.

While children directly affected by the tragedy will most likely be with family, pediatricians, child psychologists and educators agree that for most children, school is probably the best place to be -- most importantly, because that's where they're supposed to be anyway.

"I think the children need to be together. They were together last year when it happened and this will bring them full circle and normalize it," said Donna Gaffney, the coordinator of the Essex County Traumatic Loss Coalition and a member of the faculty of the International Trauma Studies Program at New York University.

Gaffney, whose organization made a videotape with advice for teachers on how to help students handle the day in school, said while schools should have short observances in class, they also need to get back to their regular lives that day, which includes being in the classroom.

School is also the place where professionals, including teachers, guidance counselors and other staff, will be available for children to talk to, said Gladys Padro, the mental health emergency response coordinator for the state Division of Mental Health Services. The division funded booklets, videos and workshops for teachers over the summer.

"Whenever anything like this happens, it's best to have kids follow a normal schedule, not to be bombarded with what they see on TV," she said, stressing that the division would be working with schools for the entire school year.

Not everyone agrees. Ellen Galinsky, the president of the Families and Work Institute, which put together an extensive curriculum for educators and parents, "9/11 As History," said whether to send kids to school was a decision each family had to make.

"Families should commemorate this day in whatever way they want to. If they want to keep their own kids from school and do something as a family, that's their decision."

-- Peggy O'Crowley