News article on worker safety and respirator distribution at Fresh

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document I tudents Return to Two Elementary Schools Shut Down After Terror Attack

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS was only here one day, she still that if the kids are back it must be thinks of this as her school,” said safe? Is it for the sake of normalcy? On Friday, Brook Peters and his Edna Samuel, whose 4-year-old Is normalcy of primary impor­ mother, Michelle, walked through daughter, Roberta, goes to P.S. 234. tance?” Public School 150 for the first time Ms. Samuel said Roberta, wearing Still, Mr. Dobell was moved to be since Sept. 11, just to see what it long dangly earrings for the home- back. ‘‘It’s a real home,” he said. would be like. coming, missed the Borders book­ ‘‘Coming back is like being repatriat­ As they walked down Greenwich store at the twin towers more than ed.” Street, mother and son looked at the anything. “She doesn’t have this con­ Perez y Mena, the father of a first. empty space in the sky once filled by ception that people died,” she said. grader, said he had returned only; twin towers where so many people, As Jean-Claude Ribes tried to get a many of them firefighters, had died. because his child did not want to' last hug from his daughter. Chante­ start over in a strange school with “Mom, I feel happy about the fire­ relle, the third grader scolded: “O.K. friends. “No one moves kids fou^" men,” Brook, a kindergartner, said. You can leave. I’m here. Goodbye.” “Why?” his mother asked. blocks from a toxic dump site,” Dry; Since Sept. 11, the 170 students of Mena said, meaning the ruins of theZy “Because their spirits are in my P.S. 150 have been temporarily neighborhood,” Brook replied. World Trade Center. “I think this ii^’; housed at P.S. 3 in Greenwich Vil­ to make it seem normal for re^;; Yesterday, Brook and his mother lage, and the 600 students of P.S. 234 returned for real, as P.S. 150 and P.S. estate interests. It has nothing to def- were at SL Bernard’s, a former Cath­ with children.” 234, a block apart on Greenwich olic school, also in the Village. The Street, became the first of three Several families said they had’ third elementary school near the at­ asked for waivers that would let. downtown elementary schools evac­ tack, P.S. 89 in Battery Park City, is uated on Sept. 11 to reopen. Walking them transfer their children to other scheduled to reopen on Feb. 28. P.S. schools, but had not been able to find' under an arch of helium balloons to 89 has the clearest view of the ruins. the festive beat of conga drums, Ms. room in schools near them. Kevin; Amid the celebration, some par­ Ortiz, a spokesman for the board,- . Peters said they were thrilled to be ents said they would have liked to back, and Brook seemed to care only said 15 variances had been granted stay in their temporary quarters from the three schools, and another er about his friends. longer. These parents wondered But their happy reaction was one whether their children were being to 12 families had not accepted the- of many emotions, from anger used as guinea pigs by a city and a locations offered to them. > among parents who had fought hard Board of Education anxious to prove Chancellor Harold 0. Levy visited' not to return, to ambivalence among that the neighborhood is safe for both schools to reassure parents. others, even those who felt that it schools, commerce, tourism and “This has been a year like no other,”. was right to return to a deeply housing. Mr. Levy told parents at P.S. 234. scarred neighborhood and a school “First we were supposed to come “This school has emerged from the they see in their nightmares. Many back in October, then November, ashes of the towers more cohesive, parents brought cameras; others then December, then after Christ­ more resolute and more dedicated wept. mas break, now Feb. 4,” said Curzon than ever.” The children seemed more san­ Dobell, the father of a fourth grader Mr. Levy read a letter praising the guine than their parents. “My daugh­ at P.S. 150. “Where does that date teachers, which he said would go in ter is in pre-k, and even though she come from? Why now? Is it to prove their personnel files.

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