staying "centred"

As staff at both of the centres requested it, I took myself to the Caisse d’Écoles du 10ème arrondissement. For the average American reader, that sentence requires some translation and interpretation.

First of all, Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, a term for which there is no good English translation. Arrondissements are bigger than neighborhoods (in French, quartiers, hence the French Quarter in New Orleans) -- they are municipal subdivisions of the city. In keeping with this system, Paris has 20 zip codes: 75001 through 75020, that a we’re 75010, for the 10th arrondissement.
Thus, if you know where someone lives in Paris, you automatically know their zip code (this is ingenius, really, but there are many post offices within each zip code!).

In addition, each arrondissement has its own local government, including a mayor (I have no idea, really, how these 20 elected officials relate to the Mayor of Paris, but I suppose they're like the NYC borough chiefs. Or not.). The offices of each arrondissement are located in the mairie, which is where the mayors work.

The mairie of the 10th arrondissement is a huge, beautiful 19th century affair. I reminded myself not to be intimidated by the jaw-dropping architecture and am pleased to notice the big banner out
Front “La mairie du 10ème en solidarité avec les sans-papiers et leurs enfants” [The Town Hall of the 10th in solidarity with undocumented people and their children] -- in an area of the city as diverse as this, with lots of illegal immigrants (mainly from Africa), the children are still bound to attend school and the State requires that they attend, regardless of their immigration status. In a way, my children fall into that category!

Anyway, I show up with paperwork that I think would be helpful: passports, birth certificates, the good ol’ quittance de loyer, and the vaccination records, for good measure. A young woman waves me over to her desk and I explain that we’ve just gotten to the neighborhood and that the children are at the centre and we need to know our tarif. We do not have the affiliations that the French would have (namely, the CAF, or allocation familiale, which can support your children if you are in financial trouble. Like WIC, perhaps, in the US, but more with more expansive coverage and for a much larger population. And if you are a famille nombreuse (that’s 3 kids or more, I believe), you are eligible for further subsidies from the State.

Anyway, the young woman is cordial and first off makes sure that the kids have been accepted by the centre. She tells me that I need to provide 3 months worth of pay stubs for myself and my husband, and also our most recent tax records. This I cannot produce on the spot, obviously. She also gave me the enrollment form to fill out, which is the same form used to determine how much families pay for school lunch.

I contacted Bill and he was able to get me what I needed (really, the ability to send documents by email is a great thing). And then I went back with all of the stuff. A different young woman helped me. I pulled out my form, and the copies of the pay stubs and of our taxes, and then she asked for the kids’ birth certificates, which she photocopied. Then she told me I could come back in September to find out which tarif I would be paying. I countered that the reason I was there already was because of the centre, and she said, come back in two weeks.

And have a nice day!