My three children have been at Paragon for the majority of their school careers. I respect and appreciate the teachers, staff, and administration. We have had a great experience with Paragon overall. I read the previous review of Paragon and I have some thoughts. I agree their high academic standards do not necessarily make for a perfect classroom setting for hyperactive children. Or even active children. Honestly, if I had my way, Paragon would follow more of a Montessori-style structure and would allow for kids to have more hands-on learning and less time in their seats. However, most of the teachers my kids have had have been fairly creative in their approaches to dealing with students' needs. For example, many teachers incorporate dance breaks or allow students non-traditional seating, like a big exercise ball so they can bounce their wiggles out. Many of the teachers offset the boring (but necessary) lessons with learning games and engaging activities. One of my favorite things about Paragon is the people. Along with having caring, patient teachers and administration, the other parents and students are overall respectful, kind, and helpful. Prior to Covid, Paragon held frequent school-wide events, which were usually very well-attended, indicating an unusually high level of parent involvement. There is also a high emphasis on moral character. Each month (or maybe trimester?) has a different moral focus emphasizing that month's virtue (perseverance, encouragement, kindness, integrity, responsibility, etc.). I love this so much! More than being successful academically or professionally, I believe today's kids need to learn these moral virtues. What good is it if your child is the highest paid, most awarded pigglegiggologist if he's also a selfish butthole who cheated on his wife and left his kids for the nanny and yells and humiliates waiters because they get his order wrong? Also, I have to say just a random snippet about the principal, Mr. Kriesch. I happened to be in the office one day last year when I heard Mr. Kriesch's voice from his office. Clearly, a kid had been acting out in his class and had to go see the principal. I didn't see or hear the kid but overheard Mr. Kriesch explaining to the student the importance of allowing the teacher to teach and the other students to learn. It wasn't necessarily the words he was saying, but the respectful way he addressed the student. It was as if he fully expected the student to rise to the level of maturity with which he was being treated. I have no idea if the kid actually started right, but I know he probably left feeling heard and like Mr. Kriesch believed the best of him. Also, during the virtual learning this past year, I have appreciated the lengths the teachers have gone to to make things as clear and as smooth as possible in a less-than-ideal scenario. I have also appreciated their grace. As a parent of three, it was pretty overwhelming trying to keep up with all the emails and assignments and so I didn't. Not well, anyway. There were dozens of announcements and emails I didn't read, phone calls I didn't listen to and I know my kids missed assignments and missed out on quite a few other things because of this. I dreaded parent/teacher conferences because I figured I would be parent-shamed for my parental laziness. On the contrary, I felt encouraged by each teacher and each seemed to focus on positive attributes, while still addressing my kids' personal challenges. I was pretty grateful for their seemingly non-judgmental feedback. read more

My child started at Paragon as a kindergartener in Fall 2020. The rules about in-person, hybrid, and online schooling were rapidly changing and I was beyond stressed. I cannot tell you how happy I am with the way Paragon stepped up for the plate during this time. The staff did a wonderful job of keeping my kiddo safe while also giving him a great education. The principal is very hands-on and present. Shoutout to Mr. Reigle for being my sons favorite teacher and for getting him excited about computers. We toured 6 elementary schools in and Jackson before deciding on Paragon. I can say with confidence that this school is the best choice for families living in the Jackson Public District. read more

I have four children who go or have gone to Paragon Charter Academy in Michigan. It has about 700 students with 2-4 classrooms per grade. The school is fairly diverse, with East Indian and African-American minorities well-represented. My kids have also formed friendships with Hispanic, Japanese and African classmates. My two who went the full K-8 had great motivation and study skills when they started high school, though it saddened them to leave behind the close friendships they had formed with students and teachers alike. The school has a uniform dress code designed to minimize distractions, stay affordable, and prevent competition between families that can or cannot afford designer looks. Recently, there has been a misinformed news report going around that the school discriminates against ethnic hairstyles. Actually, my kids have many schoolfriends with cornrows or hair extensions; but unlike public schools without a uniform dress code, unnatural hair colors are banned and hairclips need to be in school uniform colors. As for negatives, my kids do not like the school lunches. The two main reasons I have seen families go elsewhere are because 1. transportation was difficult for them (there is no bussing provided), or 2. traditional public schools had more special ed options that their child needed. Middle school has some team sports options, but not as much as bigger school districts can offer. read more

I could not be more happy with my children's school!! We love this place!! We love the relationships our kids have grown with the staff!! PARAGON PROUD! Love the dress code no fights in the AM just put on their uniform and off we go! Get connected! read more

My family loves Paragon Charter Academy! My daughters have been attending Paragon since kindergarten, currently in fourth grade & will continue to attend until it is time to move onto high school. I have also had other family members that have attended Paragon and only stopped because their family needed to relocate. I would recommend Paragon to anyone. The teachers, administrators and all staff is wonderful!! read more

Let me start off by saying that I'm going to provide an open and honest review of this school based off a few school years that one of my children attended here. There were some things I liked about this school but a lot more that I did not. To begin with in each school semester my child attended with the exception of their second several children were either kicked out or their parents removed them from this school. We're talking kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders here folks. Kids don't understand why their friends just oddly seem to disappear in the middle of the school year at a fairly frequent clip. At first I brushed this off as not every parent likes the charter school setup but as time went on I began to see that it was more than that and it seemed every few weeks my child would say so and so left today. They would go on to say things like,"Yeah they were bad and they can't come back." This is when the first alarms started going off in my head. Why were so many students leaving nearly every semester? After all this was supposed to be a great school. Paragon is a place of structure and high goals. Their yearly state test results seem to represent that as their students often score fairly high, generally just behind the top public school district in the county (Western) and the catholic school program in the area but ahead of most of the rest of the districts in Jackson and Hillsdale counties. This is something I liked about the school. It demanded high parental involvement both with time and money which is another thing I felt was a positive. However one thing I did begin to notice was that Paragon had a clear agenda of one particular mold of student. That student was one that could sit for long extended periods of time with little to no physical activity. One that was able to complete all assignments in class without teacher assistance and one that would never dare challenge a teacher with a question. If they did not fit that mold then they were generally ridiculed and then eventually isolated if they did not conform to the student ideal. If they received assistance on their class assignments that generally was noted on their work, on their daily note home, or on their semester reviews. It was their way of telling the student indirectly that they weren't good enough without actually saying it. If your child is a calm, low energy student who is self motivated and needs little assistance on assignments then Paragon most likely will be a good fit. They will challenge your child with advanced lesson plans and push them. The downfall of this is that if your child is high energy, reacts better to one on one teaching in certain lessons, or is strong willed then this school will probably not fit them very well. The school has very little tolerance for minor infractions of its handbook and that includes kindergartners and 1st graders too. If they get up from their seat, engage in horseplay, don't complete an assignment, talk out of turn, etc... they will most likely end up in the office with a phone call to the parents and they even suspend kids that young. Those who do the phone calls will try to make it seem that they have the child's best interest at heart but let me be clear again. I tried the Paragon way for years not just one semester. It's basic premise is to break your child or to drive them out of the school. My child does not have ADD or ADHD but if your child is then rule this place out immediately. They will not accomodate them and the blunt reality is they do not want them. The last teacher my child had there continually asked us in notes and in parent teacher conferences if our child was diagnosed with either and if any medication had been provided. Initially we didn't know any better so we took them to our pediatrician who said he did not see any signs and would not write a prescription due to this. He referred us to a specialist at a local hospital who also came to the same the conclusion. Eventually enough was enough and we figured out nothing was wrong with our child. They did great at the sports they played and their coaches loved them. Their daycare provider also had zero issues. So we couldn't figure it out. What was wrong with our child? Well nothing was wrong. Our child was normal with a high energy level. Their test scores were also high for their age level. The problem was the school. The clear agenda of this school is to get top performance out of students and generate profits by running an extremely lean budget. Their athletic program is a joke and they're routinely routed by other area schools. They don't really have a cafeteria so your child either brings their lunch or has one served in the classroom. Overall I feel the cons far outweigh the pros which is why I made the decision to switch. Most kids will be better off at a public school or just spend the money to send them to Lumen Christi or Jackson Christian. read more

Paragon is a great place for kids to learn! They are so innovative with how the meet their students' needs. The after school and evening activities are thoughtful and fun. The Leadership Lunches to celebrate students' academic and behavioral success are really special and with the upcoming 7 Year College Plan initiative for their middle schoolers, they'll be on the path to success! read more