Legal action may be taken to resolve the Holy Cross Primary School dispute in north Belfast, which has led to a number of pupils leaving the school.
The chairman of the school's board of governors, Fr Aidan Troy, said residents of the loyalist Glenbryn estate, whose picket of Catholic school children attending Holy Cross has entered its sixth week, might have to answer a case of "child abuse".
"We are considering all possibilities and, of course, dialogue would be our first preference but the main thing is that this is brought to a halt as soon as possible," he told The Irish Times.
"The weeks of suffering for these small girls were never justified. The longer it goes on the more horrible it becomes. This is no longer a legitimate protest; it is a form of child abuse."
The protest by the Protestant residents against the school girls and their parents walking along Ardoyne Road, which skirts the Glenbryn estate, first erupted in June, but turned ugly on the children's return to school in September.
Since then, parents and children have twice daily been exposed to a barrage of verbal abuse, whistle-blowing and occasional spitting by the residents, although the early excesses of blast bombs, stink bombs and urine-filled balloons being thrown at them appear to have been halted.
The principle of Holy Cross, Ms Anne Tanney, said she was particularly concerned at the long-term effects of the protest on the children. "So far, 11 girls have been taken out of the school, nine as a direct consequence of the protest. Of course, we have the greatest sympathy for parents who feel they can't put their children through this any longer. It is very difficult to explain to a little girl that all this hatred is not really directed at her".
Father Troy said parents had approached him with stories of children having nightmares, wetting their beds or no longer trusting adults. "There are also those whose parents had to move house and they are feeling terribly unsettled now, even if we in the school do everything possible to provide an air of normality."
It was "amazing and absurd" that in the light of world events, the protesters still felt the need to keep up their picket, he added. "I was so hopeful that the dreadful events of September 11th in America would provide us with an opportunity to walk away from this."
On the Glenbryn estate yesterday afternoon, these arguments seemed to cut little ice. "The world might be at war, but this is Northern Ireland, love," said one woman as she got ready to blow a whistle at parents and children.
"We have been living with terrorism for the past 30 years while they (the Americans) have been best buddies with the IRA. So all this doesn't make the blindest bit of difference to us."
At least 40 RUC land-rovers and British army saracens, as well as police in full riot gear, were shielding parents and children from the protesters. The cost of the security operation surrounding the Holy Cross dispute has reached £1 million.
Meanwhile, parents' representatives and protesting residents held talks at Stormont last night, with the discussions breaking up without agreement. However both sides said "channels of communication" remained opened.