The first children wandered up the street shortly after sunrise. Many of them were escorted by their parents.
At the entrance of the Cité Voltaire Elementary School in Paris, they were greeted by the principal and a new set of security measures.
The French government has advised parents not to linger as they drop off their children, in an effort to prevent crowds from gathering in front of schools.
In addition, staff are authorized to search bags and check the identities of anyone visiting schools. New measures to protect schools and children from the threat of terror attacks have been posted in bulletins at the entrance next to an ominous red triangle symbol with the logo “Vigipirate,” the name for the French national security alert system.
“The school was traumatized by what happened, but it is repairing itself,” said Pascal Meissonnier, the principal. He was talking, of course, about the November 13 terror attacks in the French capital, one of which took place only a few meters from Cité Voltaire Elementary.
“The Vigipirate security system already existed for a few years but now we are even more careful,” he added.
Laurence Trotet, who just dropped off her six-year-old son at school, was trying to stay positive.
“If somebody wants really to get into the school, it’s very easy to get into the school,” she said.
“We are a little stressed, because it happened very close to here.”
Across town, at the Paris Institute of Political Science, or “Sciences Po,” as it’s more commonly called, the security measures are far more stringent.
Guards dressed in black, wearing orange “securité” armbands now stop to search the bag of everyone entering the building.
Administrators at Sciences Po, which is one of France’s most prestigious universities, said they imposed stricter security the morning after the coordinated terror attacks across Paris that left 130 people dead.
“Right now we are at the maximum level of security,” said Cornelia Wall, vice president of studies and academic affairs at the university.
“We have canceled all events with a public audience with external visitors,” she said. “And we even now do not allow access to alumni or even people who are enrolled with the alumni.”
In the halls of learning here, students admitted a new acute feeling of vulnerability.
“Because our school is so politicized, if one university was to be attacked in France, it would probably be us,” said Mathilde Bernaert, a first year master’s student. “So it makes it scary.”
The uncertainty of this post-terror environment hasn’t been helped, her classmate said, by the fact that the university had been evacuated more than once due to false alarms.
Some of the French have chosen to take matters into their own hands.
The Federation of the French White Cross Emergency Workers reports a 20% surge in enrollment in first aid courses since November 13. There are so many requests that the organization is setting up first aid courses for the upcoming Christmas holiday.
White Cross President Walter Henry told CNN he believed this was prompted by a sense of powerlessness that many people felt during the carnage of the terror attacks.
“They want to be able to help,” he said, in the event of another incident.
In the state of emergency now imposed on France, there are still many signs of normality. Tourists still pose for photos in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
But those idyllic scenes of visitors enjoying Parisian delights are now periodically interrupted by the sight of heavily armed French soldiers on foot patrol, marching across bridges over the Seine carrying automatic weapons.
It’s a show of force during a time of fear in the City of Light.
