The Al Maria school in Rahovec, built by the World Vision aid organisation, was the province's first post-war multi-ethnic school, embracing three communities - Albanian, Roma and Serbian.
But violence elsewhere in Kosovo in March 2004 saw children from Rahovec's Serbian enclave withdrawn from the school. Ten months on, they are yet to return.
"Relations now between Albanian and Serb are just as strained now as they were during the war in 1999," said Slavica Kolasinac, the first Serbian representative on Al Maria school's working party.
"We've got to bring back this confidence between ethnic groups that we had built up," he told BBC World Service's Masterpiece programme.
Teaching history
The aim of the Al Maria school was to bring a divided community together through its children.
| After the events of 17
March, I'm afraid for the future of that school Mathematics professor Mile Krikovic |
Among the lessons taught at the school are civic education classes, in which children learn the history of all three ethnic groups in the area.
But for many of the parents in the town, continuing mistrust since the ethnic violence of the late 1990s has turned to outright fear.
They were shocked by the events of 17 March 2004 - a nationwide explosion of violence in which at least 19 people were killed and 3,000 Serbs displaced.
Mr Kolasinac said that in 2001 there were 680 Serbs in the enclave - but now there are only 370, something he related directly to the March violence.
Veska Maimorevic - whose husband disappeared during the late 1990s conflict - said she would never consider sending her daughter to a multi-ethnic school now.
"I have so much pain, I can't even consider it," she said.
"For me, because I have so much pain, I don't like that idea."
Mile Krikovic, a Serb professor of mathematics, explained that the school's integration policy had briefly become successful.
"We did start to have co-operation with the Albanian teachers," he said.
"But to be honest, after the events of 17 March, I'm afraid for the future of that school."
And at the Al Maria school, there is mounting frustration at the Serb reluctance to attend.
"They talk about security but their houses are just a few metres away - how much more security to you want?" asked English teacher Emrulan Spyu.
"Nobody will touch them, I guarantee this. The door is open."
Making friends
Mr Kolasinac himself said he felt the reaction of Serb parents was wrong.
"The people who are against integration are always blaming security - but I can say that in Rahovec, the events of 17 March show that security isn't the issue," he said.
"No one can quite explain what happened."
However, among Rahovec's children, there are signs that the experiment is having some success.
A Kosovo-wide "Kids For Peace" club - established by an Albanian girl who lost her family and home through ethnic cleansing - has established one of its 14 branches at the school.
And this is attracting Serb children from the enclave, once again bringing them back into contact with Albanians - bridging the ethnic gulf.
"I like to make friends with other kids - I don't care about what nationality or gender they are," said 13-year-old Serbian girl Militza.
"At first I was afraid that someone would harass me or kidnap me, and I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to work together or co-operate.
"But now I've met some Albanians, and made some nice friends."
