Paron is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Saline County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, United States. Paron is located along

Arkansas Highway 9 Highway 9 (AR 9) is a designation for two north–south state highways in Arkansas. A southern segment of begins at U.S. Route 79 at Eagle Mills and heads north to U.S. Route 67 in Malvern before terminating. The northern segment of runs from ...

, northwest of Benton. Paron has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

with ZIP code 72122. In 2006 Jennifer Barnett-Reed and Max Brantley of the ''

Arkansas Times ''Arkansas Times'', a weekly alternative newspaper based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a publication that has circulated more than 40 years, originally as a magazine. Founded as a small magazine on newsprint in 1977 by publisher Alan Leveritt, ...

'' stated that the only community institutions Paron had were area churches and the schools; the latter were in operation at the time, but have since closed, with students now assigned to schools in Bryant.

Demographics

some residents of Paron moved there from urban areas in

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state o ...

while others were born in families that owned land in the Paron area for multiple generations. In 2006 Jennifer Barnett-Reed and Max Brantley of the ''

'' stated that Paron, which "doesn’t seem" to have had an accurate population count from any organization or agency, "probably" had a population in the hundreds. The average age is 54. 97.65 percent of the Paron population was born in the United States.

Economy

Circa 2006 most residents work in Benton, Bryant, and

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, while some have construction and farming jobs in Paron. Reed and Brantley stated "within probably" to there are no retail stores nor gas stations. 57.49% of Paron works white collar jobs. 6.12% of Paron is self employed, 73.39% works for private companies, 11.62% are governmental workers.

Education

Paron, a part of the Bryant School District, - See Paron on the map. is served by Salem Elementary School, in Bryant, about from Paron, and Bryant High School, in Bryant. Paron area students are eligible to attend public schools in other school districts. The community was initially in the Paron School District, which operated Paron Elementary School and Paron High School. On July 1, 2004 the Paron School District merged into the Bryant School District. Paron High School initially remained open before closing in 2006 due to Paron being considered a rural area. Students that attended the school were transferred to Bryant High School. In 2015, the Bryant district voted to close Paron Elementary School. At the time it had about 75 students. Paron students were reassigned to Salem Elementary School. In 2006 Reed and Brantley stated that since most residents can be admitted to state-operated universities and colleges without needing to take remedial courses and perform at the state average on standardized tests, " e prevailing attitude seems to be that Paron students are doing fine cademically. In 2016 there was a proposal to establish a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

in Paron in the former Paron public school as a result of the closure of the public elementary, due to safety concerns related to the commutes to Paron or to the Perryville School District facilities. That year the

Arkansas Department of Education Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osa ...

panel overseeing such requests declined this proposal, mainly because of lack of expertise and support. But they were encouraged to polish up the application and apply again the next year. The community decided not to apply the immediate year after the rejection. In 2021 another community-backed effort to establish a charter school occurred. In 2022 the community submitted plans for a K-12 charter school in Paron to the state authorities. As of now, the community is once again in the process of getting a school back in Paron. The community will be sending in their letter of intent in January, 2022. This time things are looking like they have a good shot of getting a school back.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Paron has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Paron, Arkansas
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References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Saline County, Arkansas Unincorporated communities in Arkansas Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway metropolitan area