GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Schools are back in session in Cuba. Returning to class is Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old boy who was at the fcenter of an international custody battle. CNN's Lucia Newman has more in Elian's first day in 2nd grade.</s>LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cuba's most famous boy was just one among many on the first day of the new school year. There was no fanfare, no special mention of Elian Gonzalez at the opening day ceremony. Parents and children alike had been coached on how to treat him. "Normal, like all other children," said one of his classmates. "We fought for his return, but he'll be just a normal boy," said this woman. But it's not so simple. This was the first time in two months since Elian's return to Cuba that the news media was allowed a close- up look at the 6-year-old whose international custody dispute turned him into a household name around the world. Until now, the Cuban government has provided only an occasional glimpse of Elian, for example, playing with dolphins during his summer holidays: the message being that he's OK. At the school ceremony, Elian looked, at times, serious; at others, happy and entertained. Little is known, at least publicly, about just how well he's settled into his old home again, how he's coping with the loss of his mother and all the changes he's been through. For Elian's family, his first day in 2nd grade was a personal victory; for the Cuban government, a political one. Cuba had promised to return Elian to his country, his home, and his socialist school education, and it succeeded. (on camera): But while Elian may be back in his old school, with his old friends, it's difficult to imagine him going back to being just an average little boy, at least as long as he remains this country's most powerful symbol of everything that divides the United States and Cuba. Lucia Newman, CNN, Cardenas, Cuba.
Elian Gonzalez Begins First Day of 2nd Grade in Cuba