Delicate dilemma

NEW YORK -- With crayon drawings and building block toys, children in the New York area are still resurrecting the World Trade Center. Then they ignite the drawings in scribbled orange flames, and topple the blocks with their fists.

Nearly a year after the nightmare of Sept. 11, children are still struggling to understand what they went through.

Many parents are expected to keep their children home this Sept. 11, but the 1.1-million-pupil school system will be open, and administrators are struggling to mark the day without triggering terrible memories.

So far, simple, brief and unforced are the themes.

"What we have learned and seen over the past year is that the impact is deep and how children respond is often unpredictable," Schools Chancellor Harold Levy said.

He said some schools may plan individual programs, but all will observe the citywide moment of silence planned just before 10:30 a.m., the time the second tower collapsed.

At that moment last year, Monica Watt's daughter was gripping the hand of her second-grade teacher as they fled Public School 89, three blocks from the trade center.

Brief observance

Watt and other parents say they agree with the idea of a brief observance at the start of the day.

"I think a lot of parents are not going to send their children to school that day, but if they go, I don't think ignoring it is better," Watt said.

School officials said they never considered canceling classes Sept. 11, in keeping with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's position that public offices remain open. "We will carry on our responsibilities to our families and to our city," the mayor said.

Debbie Leach, whose 8-year-old daughter, Michal, attends P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village, said schools need to maintain a normal atmosphere.

"You have a little acknowledgment of what happened, and then go on with life," Leach said.

One afternoon, Andre Moten, 6, visited a park near ground zero for the first time since the attack. He used to come regularly with his grandmother and older brother.

"I dream what happened to the World Trade Center," said Moten. "And in my mind I keep thinking that the World Trade Center fell down."