BY DONNA GEHRKE WHITE and NEIL REISNER

 Toni-Kaye McDougall, 11, is adamant: The U.S. government had no choice but to snatch Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives.

 ``I think it was very necessary. He should be with his father,'' even if that means returning to Cuba, said the fifth-grader.

 Her classmate at Miramar's Fairway Elementary is just as forceful: ``If my Dad really loved me, he would stay in America with me,'' said Emiliano Castillo, 10. ``I wouldn't like Cuba. There's more freedom here.''

 The debate of the pixieish 6-year-old has spilled into South Florida's classrooms and lunch lines, dividing the children much as the passions of their parents have divided them. Concern about Elian's fate. Fears about what his life would be like in Cuba. Worries over Cuban dictator Fidel Castro attacking this country should Elian not be returned. Questions over whether what happened to Elian on Saturday morning could happen to them.

 ``I hope all grown-ups are doing whatever it is they have to do to prevent this from happening ever again,'' Olivia Cattaneo, 11, wrote to The Herald.

 ``I agree he has to be with his father, but the way they took him was so brutal, so malicious, so terrible,'' said Olivia, a sixth-grade student at Trinity Christian Academy in Hialeah. ``What a lot of people are forgetting is that if the United States of America has the power to do this to Elian, then they have the power to do this, or worse, to any other individual -- Americans included.''

 The issue also has teachers, administrators and parents grappling over what should be taught in the classroom. Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Roger Cuevas sees the case about the first-grader as a ``teachable moment, the perfect opportunity for our students to learn more about civics, democracy and the branches of government.''

 But translating that into the curriculum has been tricky, as some teachers have let their personal feelings ebb into the classroom.

 In South Miami-Dade, Howard Drive Elementary Principal Florine Curtis fielded a visit from an angry parent who indicated her child's teacher injected her opinion into the classroom discussion. Curtis is now requesting that teachers, if they discuss Elian, to present a balanced view.

 ``When you represent an institution, such as a school, you want to make sure both sides are discussed with the kids,'' Curtis said.

 NO DISCUSSION

 In West Dade, Greenglades Elementary Principal Louis Manganiello decided Elian's case shouldn't be discussed in the classroom. Better to discuss it over the dinner table, he noted.

 ``It's extremely controversial,'' he says. ``The general public can't come to any understanding. So it's best left out of the classroom. The families have the right to talk about it.''

 Still, Elian is on many children's minds and Manganiello allowed a pupil to write about it in the student newspaper distributed this week.

 Third-grader Bibi Moghani, 9, plans to write about Elian for her Sunset Elementary class. She thinks freedom is too precious for the little boy to give up. ``I think if he does go back, then Fidel Castro will hospitalize him and brainwash him,'' Bibi says.

 Her father, Seyed M. Moghani, knows firsthand about losing freedom: He fled Iran 25 years ago to escape repression.

 ``I would not send my own children back to Iran to the Ayatollah,'' says her father. ``I believe in America and justice.''

 Jose Rodriguez, 14, an eighth-grader at St. Peter and Paul Catholic School in Miami, also has firsthand experience: His family fled Cuba after Castro took over.

 ``He shouldn't be sent back because there's little supply of food over there,'' Jose said. ``Once he's over there and everything is going to be forgotten, Castro isn't going to care anymore about Elian. I think he will have a better education and life here.''

 ``If he goes back to Cuba with his father, they'll be in danger,'' said Shanoska Young, 10, a fifth-grader at Miramar's Fairway Elementary.

 BE WITH DAD

 Other students, however, say Elian needs to be with his father, even if it means returning to Communist Cuba.

 ``Every parent needs a child,'' says Sacha Viertl, 9, a third-grader at Sunset Elementary.

 ``It's his dad,'' added Shelbi Brown, a fifth-grader at the school south of Coral Gables. ``Wouldn't you want to be with your father?''

 ``He should be with his father -- the Miami relatives just met him,'' said Rebecca Valera, 12, a student at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Miami Shores.

 She and her two sisters -- Cristina, 14, and Alexandra, 9 -- hold out hope that Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, will decide to stay here.

 ``He should be with family, his father, but he would live a better life here,'' says Michelle Giannone, 12, of Cooper City, who was in an after-school program at David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie.

 Despite their differences, the children were clearly touched by Elian and identified with his predicament: To be scared, motherless, powerless.

 ``If I was Elian I would feel really scared,'' said Mallory Marcus, 7, of Cooper City, also at the Jewish Community Center in Davie.

 Seth Mahl, 8, of Cooper City, says Elian's ordeal made him afraid of the ocean: ``I'm scared that this could happen to me, because I like to go on boats. I'm afraid the boat could sink and I'd end up in Cuba.''

 The photo of a federal officer in riot gear pointing an automatic weapon at Elian to forcibly remove him from the home of his Miami relatives also frightened many of the children.

 Michael Romero, 7, of Sunset Elementary, ran crying to his mother, asking, ``Is that the correct way?''

 ``No, that is not the way,'' his mother, Olga Romero, told him.

 ``It is terrible,'' said Katie Gregg, 9, who attends Leewood Elementary in South Miami-Dade. ``I think it is bad that they had to take him out of the home. It is scary for him, that they pointed the gun at him. They shouldn't have done that.''

 Others faulted the government for not acting more quickly. Elian, who was found clinging to an inner tube on Thanskgiving Day, had been staying with his Miami relatives for nearly five months.

 ``It's the government's fault, they took too long,'' said Andre Rosario, 10, a fifth-grader at Miramar Fairway Elementary.

 Some fear violent retribution from Castro should Elian remain in this country.

 ``I think Castro might want to start a war with us if they decide Elian has to stay and bomb all over America,'' said Alexandra Hill, 11, a fifth-grader at Fairway Elementary.

 SOME DON'T KNOW

 Of course, some children, particularly younger ones, don't know about Elian. Their parents have tried to shield them from the controversy. Jose Espejo hasn't discussed the case with his son, Jose, 6, who attends Sunset Elementary.

 ``I think he doesn't need to know that,'' he said.

 For those aware of the case, they were unanimous in their feeling that Elian has suffered enough and needs to heal.

 Finally, Monique Rodriguez, 8, who attends St. Paul and Peter Catholic School, thinks adults should stay out of the final decision: Elian, she said, ``should be the one to decide what he wants.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald