Meagan, a third-grader at Cross Bayou Elementary School near the hospice, was one of about 600 students school officials chose to protect from the ``unstable environment'' there. They were displaced to three temporary locations.

As she and others returned from spring break, they asked whether they would have to sit next to unfamiliar students or learn from unfamiliar teachers. Parents prepared to answer thornier questions, like why students had to move in the first place.

``All the people over there, and no one cares about the kids next door,'' Meagan's mother, Mary Andrews of Largo, said of the supporters of Bob and Mary Schindler.

``What about the kids? This is something they're never going to forget.''

The kids likely will stay at their temporary Largo schools - Walsingham and Southern Oak elementary schools and the Gus A. Stavros Institute - at least through Friday, Superintendent of Schools Clayton Wilcox said. They will stay with their own classmates and their own teachers.

Protesters are becoming greater in number and more aggressive in their campaign to keep Schiavo alive, school leaders say. ``And I have to be convinced our kids will be safe going to and from school,'' Wilcox said.

About 75 percent of Cross Bayou's students showed up for classes Monday.

Some families expressed outrage at the protesters, many of whom have come from out of state to hold round-the-clock vigils in front of the hospice.

Toni Paulhamus, of Pinellas Park, said she appreciated the school district's attempts to keep her 6-year-old son, Brandin, safe. However, she said she may keep him home until Cross Bayou reopens. He attended Walsingham on Monday.

``He's not going to learn anything there. It's like day care now,'' Paulhamus said.

Classrooms appeared normal Monday, thanks to teachers' and administrators' frenzied weekend efforts to prepare for their students. Teachers say they worked to keep the same routines. Cross Bayou third- grade teacher Molly Nazaruk had an open classroom and all the materials she needed, from spelling charts to chalkboards. ``We need to keep things as normal as possible,'' she said.

Administrators at Walsingham opened cafeterias for kindergartners. Principal Robert Ammon at Southern Oak placed Cross Bayou third- graders in open music rooms; some of his own students doubled up in other classrooms.

Walsingham and Southern Oak elementary schools are down the road from the Stavros Institute, home to the Pinellas Education Foundation as well as business and finance programs for students.

Students gathered first at the Stavros Institute. Pupils from pre-K to first grades then were sent to Walsingham. Third- graders went to Southern Oak. Second- and fifth-graders remained at Stavros.

Cross Bayou's 65 hearing-impaired students were sent to Walsingham and received help from sign-language interpreters.

Fourth-graders were on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg on Monday; they will attend classes at Southern Oak today.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (727) 451- 2332.