Challenger School - Independence

Reviews

• HJ

  Hai Jiang

  Jan 3, 2026
  1.0
  Is this school deleting bad reviews? I gave one last time (around March 2025) and I could not find it any more...
• MS

  Mia Sebbowa

  Sep 4, 2025
  1.0
  the food is disgusting! I almost threw up and the teachers are horrible! Please don’t go to this middle school! My kid got really sick and bullied!
• RF

  Roger Ferneyhough

  Feb 20, 2025
  2.0
  I have taken some time to write this review to share my honest thoughts. My daughter attended Challenger Independence from April to December 2024, covering the last term of Pre-K and the first term of Kindergarten, including summer school. Positives: 1. Her academic progress was amazing, especially in math, reading, and writing. The teachers during this time were fantastic. 2. Mrs. Nyssa, the receptionist, was always friendly and helpful. Negatives: 1. The leadership from Mark Shin and Caitlyn Bailey was disappointing. My daughter started with chess and Spanish as after-school activities, but suddenly both were dropped without any notice. When I asked Mark about it, he said it was because of "academic probation" and a "miscommunication," the reality is, it was a complete lack of communication. He promised she would be put back in Spanish, but that never happened, and we only found out when my wife saw she was not in class. 2. In a meeting with Caitlyn and my daughter’s teachers, it was clear the staff was uncomfortable being fully honest with Caitlyn in the room, which was later confirmed by a former staff member. Caitlyn led the meeting and mentioned that my daughter had become quiet and withdrawn after being removed from chess and Spanish. When this came up, Caitlyn admitted, “We dropped the ball on that one.” 3. Despite the school’s mission statement to “inspire children to embrace challenge and find joy and self-worth through achievement,” neither Caitlyn nor Mark took responsibility for how removing my daughter from those activities impacted her. 4. When we first enrolled, we were told the school would eventually offer grades up to 8. But a few months later, parents of kindergarten students were told there would only be one grade 1 class, even though there were four kindergarten classes across two locations. My wife and I are disappointed by the lack of communication, and professionalism here. Based on our experience, we cannot recommend this campus to others.

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