First lady welcomes pupils as White House reopens for tours on limited basis

Friday, February 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Tours of the White House resumed on a limited basis Friday for the time since the Sept. 11 attacks, with first lady Laura Bush exchanging smiles and handshakes with dozens of wide-eyed, giggling school children.

``It's been sad and lonely without the voices of America here,'' Mrs. Bush said before greeting more than 100 students in a White House foyer.

Reopening to tours is a very important symbol, she said. ``But I don't think it's a symbol that we are totally back to normal yet, as evidenced by the FBI alerts earlier this week.''

White House tours had been suspended since the terrorist attacks as a precaution. For now, tours will be limited only to school groups that first make a request through a member of Congress.

Visitors must provide birth dates and Social Security numbers as part of a security background check.

``We're going to begin it with this; we'll see how it goes, hopefully more can be done,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. ``The president and Mrs. Bush would dearly love to be able to allow more visitors to come.''

Mrs. Bush greeted students from the Aurora, Ill., school district and Bertie Backus Middle School in Washington. Also taking the tour was the family of Sarah Clark, a teacher at Backus who died on the hijacked plane that hit the Pentagon.

``The White House is an extraordinary symbol and it should be accessible,'' said Clark's fiance, John Milton Wesley. Clark was on her way to California with a student for a field trip when the terrorists struck.

The White House will welcome up to 800 students per day, from grades 4 through 12, for the self-guided tours.

After shaking hands with the Mrs. Bush, Aurora eighth-grader Emma Sarbu told her she was visiting Capitol Hill and going shopping afterward.

``The tour was awesome. We were treated like celebrities,'' Sarbu said.