Project-Based Learning Charter School Starting In Vance County; Sledge Institute

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Sledge Institute is a new charter school opening in Vance County in August 2025, with a focus on project-based learning that links students with the community to put into action what they’re learning in the classroom.

Chandra Sledge Mathias, Ed.D, founder and chief executive officer, said the enrollment period is open now through Feb. 28, 2025 for students who will be in kindergarten, first, second and sixth grades.

The school will have 125 students in the first year, but once all 13 grades are in place, the school could have a maximum enrollment of 800, Sledge Mathias said on Monday’s TownTalk.

Construction is underway now to get the former Dabney Elementary School ready for its new occupants, and school leaders are scheduling info sessions across the area to help parents decide whether Sledge Institute is a good fit for them and their children.

Sledge Mathias said the school is for students who live in the Kerr-Tar region, which includes the counties in the WIZS listening area.

“Our model is allowing students to use what they’re learning in schools, project-based, hands on activities,” Sledge Mathias said, “and work alongside professionals in the community.” The plan is to offer mentorships to students and involve the community in the school.

“We want communities to feel like they can be a part of the school and engage with the school,” she said. Each project will have a community partner associated with it.

As students are learning concepts, however, they’re also going to be learning so-called “soft skills” that future employers are looking for in employees.

“We also want them to learn habits so that they’re living their lives well,” she added. “We’re integrating both the academics and the social emotional learning” into school programming.

There are several successful charter schools in the area, Sledge Mathias said, but Sledge Institute will offer something a little bit different.

“We want to make sure that all students have an option that serves them well, Sledge Mathias said. “We’re bringing an option that currently doesn’t exist in the region.”

Board President Dr. Wykia Macon said the school’s core values – ECHO – are excellence, community, heart and opportunity. The board’s role is to ensure the school remains consistent to its mission as it moves closer to its 2025 opening.

In addition to supporting students learn who they are and where their passion and talent lies, Sledge Mathias said the school will emphasize the students as global citizens and members of the global community.

“We want them to know what’s happening in the world,” she said, and how to thrive in the global environment. The school is establishing partnerships with other education leaders in Scotland, Ghana, Japan and Chile to create a network to extend its network across continents.

“They’re ready to visit us, they’re opening their doors to our students to travel and visit them,” Sledge Mathias said.

“These opportunities are really exciting because it allows our student to not only work through project-based learning in their own communities but collaborate with their peers across oceans…and problem solve together.”

As its president, Macon said the board’s role is to make sure everyone has what they need – and right now, that focus is on enrollment and recruitment. Parents interested in learning more can come to an info session at Warren Memorial Library on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m. Additional sessions are being planned in Granville County.

Visit sledgeinstitute.org/ to learn more, email info@sledgeinstitute.org or find the school on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Downtown Henderson

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Towns like Henderson began popping up in the mid 1800’s as landowners gave land to railroad companies for their business ventures, conjuring up, no doubt, visions of economic prosperity – for themselves and for the local communities.

And Mark Pace attributes the general layout of downtown Henderson to the railroad. Pace and WIZS’s Bill Harris talked about the history of downtown Henderson on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk, beginning with the physical layout of the major streets included in downtown Henderson. Garnett, Chestnut and William streets all run parallel to each other – and to the railroad tracks, which once carried freight and passenger trains through town.

Pace said Henderson was “built in a hurry,” between 1870 and 1890, with 1885 being a “game changing year” for the relatively new city, which was established in 1841.

Back then, all the buildings downtown were wooden structures, Pace said. And in 1885, a fire “basically destroyed” the downtown.

Those wooden buildings “were replaced with something nicer, something finer,” Pace said, and many of the lovely old brick and masonry building facades along Garnett Street have stood the test of time.

In fact, the Henderson Central Business District is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes not only Garnett Street but Chestnut Street and William Street as well, Pace said.

In addition to the iconic clock tower and fire department, Zollicoffer Law Office and former H. Leslie Perry Library buildings at one end of Garnett, there’s the Henry A. Dennis Building, the art nouveau style O’Neal Building and the building touted as the tallest in downtown – the five-story Vance Furniture Company.

As with many downtowns in cities small and large, Henderson’s downtown was a center of commerce from the 1870’s clear into the early 1970’s, Pace said. That’s when malls began to be popular.

In addition to the several movie theaters, downtown Henderson had several clothing stores – E.G. Davis, Roth-Stewart and Leggett – as well as hardware stores like Falkner Building Supply, Watkins Hardware and Rose Gin & Supply. There were shoe stores and jewelry stores, drug stores, barber shops and more – all downtown.

When P.H. Rose came to Henderson from Northampton County, he had already opened up a store in Littleton, Pace said, and in 1915, he opened the first store in Henderson.

He was an innovator, Pace said, and it was Rose who capitalized on the concept of customer self-service.

Business was booming for Rose’s stores. “They expanded so fast that at one point, he was opening a store a month,” Pace explained. In its heyday, Rose’s had 250 stores across the Southeast.

Listen to the complete interview at https://wizs.com/

 

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TownTalk: Dr. Alice Sallins Receives Order Of The Long Leaf Pine

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Longtime educator, community advocate and current Vance County Arts Council Director Dr. Alice Clark Sallins has joined the ranks of The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, becoming the latest local recipient during Sunday services at Holy Temple Church.

Sallins said she was “overjoyed” to learn that she was to receive the award, the highest civilian honor given in the state. Rep. Frank Sossamon presented the award to Sallins and in his written recommendation, called Sallins “a pillar of leadership and service for decades, demonstrating a selfless dedication to the people of Vance County and beyond.”

She said it was fitting to receive the honor at her church. “It was very special,” she said, “because church is the core of my existence.”

Sallins, herself a minister since 1995, said Sossamon – also a retired pastor – told the congregation that Sunday wouldn’t be long enough for him to list all her good works and accomplishments.

One of those good works was a group for young men called Royalty: Students Striving For Excellence. It began in 1988, when Sallins was a middle school teacher. The idea of Royalty was to support students and “get them to do better on tests, on Reading and Math EOGs,” Sallins recalled on Wednesday’s TownTalk.

But another goal was to keep the young men off the streets, out of trouble and headed for success.

She has a soft spot in her heart for youth and senior adults, and with the arts council she spends a good bit of time bringing arts activities for the young and the young-at-heart to enjoy.

“That was my life’s work – what I really like to focus on,” she said of her special connection with children and with senior citizens.

By week’s end, she will have visited several different schools and worked with more than 150 students, plus a free program at the Senior Center Thursday at 1 p.m.

She’s been involved with the Arts Council since the 1990’s, but added a leadership role to her crowded plate of activities back in 2004.

“As the first African American leader of the Vance County Arts Council, her leadership has been nothing short of transformative,” stated Sossamon in his letter of recommendation. “From producing Broadway-quality plays in the early 1990’s to ensuring that the Christmas Parade became a celebration of the entire community, Dr. Sallins has been a driving force for inclusivity and creativity.”

Thanks to the way her parents raised their children, Sallins has always been a giver and a doer.

There’s a lot of work to do in the community, she said. “Someone has to do it. My focus has always been to make the community better.”

Not one to seek the spotlight, she prefers to work behind the scenes to make changes for the better, whether it’s giving young people access to the arts or making sure the Henderson Christmas Parade goes off without a hitch each holiday season.

For Sallins, it’s simple: “Just let me do what I need to do to glorify God – that’s what I want to do.”

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TownTalk: Adopt From The Local Animal Shelter This Holiday Season

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The dogs and cats at the Vance County Animal Shelter are so stinkin’ cute, according to Director William Coker, that even he couldn’t resist the temptation.

Coker said he’d never been a cat owner – until he fell in love with a kitten at the shelter.

“I ended up adopting that kitten myself,” he told WIZS’s Scout Hughes on Tuesday’s TownTalk. “When I get up in the morning, that kitten is at the coffee pot with me,” he said.

The shelter is full – literally – of dogs and cats waiting to be adopted. There are 44 kennels for grown dogs – all occupied at the moment – as well as a puppy room and two cat rooms, one for adoptable felines and one for cats in quarantine for one reason or another.

The puppy room has eight beautiful puppies right now, Coker said. “I would love to have them adopted before Christmas,” he said.

Coker didn’t begin his job as director until January 2024, so he doesn’t know how Christmas-time adoptions went last year. But he said he hopes to see some folks come in and “adopt, don’t shop” at the shelter.

The application process is pretty simple, he explained. There’s a short form to fill out and the adoption fees are reasonable – $155 for dogs and $105 for cats. The cost includes the spay and neuter fee, as well as first shots and a one-year rabies shot.

And while Coker said the shelter staff is always hopeful to get animals adopted to good homes, they’re shifting their focus to educating the community about the need to spay and neuter pets. “I want to push spay and neuter in the community, to keep the animals from coming into the shelter” in the first place, he said.

Anyone interested in seeing the adoptable dogs and cats can visit the shelter during business hours. The shelter is located at 1243 Brodie Rd. and is open on Mondays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesdays – Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., all day every other Friday and half days every other Saturday.

Coker hasn’t turned down many adoption applications. “If the dog seems to be a good fit for the family, I adopt him out,” he said.

It’s a win-win-win for the animal, the community and the adopter, he explained: You’re saving an animal, taking a stray out of the neighborhood, and gaining a member of the family.

“You just carry him home and start loving him,” Coker said.

To learn more, visit the shelter at https://www.vancecounty.org/departments/animal-control/or call 252.492.3136.

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Terrell Blackmon

Henderson City Manager Terrell Blackmon Resigns

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Henderson City Manager Terrell Blackmon has resigned.

In a special called meeting on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. called by Mayor Melissa Elliott, the city council entered into closed session to discuss a personnel matter.

The information available after the council returned to open session was scant, but in addition to the resignation, it included a decision by the council that the city would contact the League of Municipalities to ask for information about retired managers or others qualified to be interim manager.

Blackmon submitted his letter of resignation on Wednesday, Dec. 11 – two days after the regular monthly Council meeting. He didn’t elaborate on any reason for his decision to resign. Blackmon told WIZS that his last day as manager will be Jan. 10. He came to work as manager in 2020.

As part of the Sunday called meeting, the City Council voted 4-2 to contact the League of Municipalities. Council members Geraldine Champion, Garry Daeke, Lamont Noel and Sam Seifert voted in favor of contacting the N.C. League of Municipalities, a member-driven organization that provides support and guidance to cities and towns across the state.

Council members Ola Thorpe-Cooper and Michael Venable voted no; Council members Sara Coffey and Tami Walker were not present at the meeting.

Two people were in attendance at the Sunday meeting – a local newspaper reporter and one other person. That other person contacted WIZS Monday morning and said that shouting could be heard toward the end of the closed session, but none of the exact words could be understood.

Several key staff positions report to and work at the pleasure of the City Council – including the city attorney and the city manager – and Raleigh attorney Hassan Kingsberry was recently sworn in as interim city attorney, filling the position left vacant when D. Rix Edwards resigned. That job posting is currently on the city’s website; interested applicants have until Dec. 30 to apply.

The city has hired Salonia Saxton as its new public information officer. Saxton introduced herself at the December meeting.

Blackmon said he expected a press statement about the resignation to be issued by the city.

Other news gathering indicates the City Manager job will be posted on the City’s webpage as well.

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Charles Forsythe Receives Order Of The Long Leaf Pine

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— information courtesy of the office of N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon

Former Watkins Volunteer Fire Department Chief Charles Forsythe is one of the newest recipients of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, given for more than four decades of service to his community.

N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon presented the award to Forsythe on Dec. 5.

“Charles Forsythe’s lifelong commitment to the Watkins Volunteer Fire Department and his profound impact on the community exemplify the spirit of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine,” Sossamon said. “His legacy of service, leadership, and compassion is an inspiration to us all.”

In 1980, Forsythe began as a firefighter with the Watkins Volunteer Fire Department. From the outset, his unwavering commitment to safeguarding lives and property set him apart. Over the years, Forsythe’s tireless efforts and exemplary leadership earned him promotions to Lieutenant, Captain, and eventually Fire Chief, a role in which he served with distinction.

Even after stepping down as Fire Chief, Forsythe remained a vital part of the department as Chaplain and Senior Man. In these capacities, he has provided spiritual guidance and emotional support to his fellow firefighters, ensuring their well-being both on and off duty. His mentorship has been instrumental in shaping the next generation of firefighters, instilling values of courage, integrity, and service.

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is one of North Carolina’s highest civilian honors, awarded to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional service to the state and their communities. Forsythe’s exemplary career and enduring contributions make him a truly deserving recipient of this prestigious award.

VGCC Logo

VGCC Community Band Winter Concert Dec. 16

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–information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

The holiday season has officially begun, and the VGCC Community Band is back in action this month to present its annual Holiday Concert.

This year’s event will occur on Monday, Dec. 16, at McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center in downtown Henderson. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will last about an hour. Admission is free to the public.

“Nothing is better than a big old-timey band concert,” said band director Brian Miller, “and the Vance-Granville Band is delighted to present to you our Winter Concert in the heart of historic downtown Henderson. We invite everyone to this free event featuring Christmas music, band classics, popular music, and classical music!”

Concertgoers can expect to hear festive favorites like “Feliz Navidad” and “Good King Wenceslas” alongside music from blockbuster soundtrack composer Michael Giacchino.

Some songs will be performed by the entire 39-piece band, while others will feature smaller groups.

Betsy Henderson, department chair of Fine Arts at the College, echoes Brian Miller’s invitation to the community. “This concert always kicks off my holiday season; it’s a lovely way to spend an evening. I urge you to come get into the holiday spirit with me!”

The VGCC Community Band contains both VGCC students and non-student adult community members with a wide range of abilities and experience. Participants represent the College’s four-county service area and beyond, some traveling from as far away as Virginia. The VGCC Community Band rehearses every Monday evening at the College’s Main Campus Civic Center in Henderson, and there is no membership fee for participating.

To learn more about the band, contact Director Miller at bmiller9302@vgcc.edu.

(This story was originally posted Dec. 6, 2024.)

TownTalk: MPH Cancer Center’s Angel Fund Gets $19K Infusion From Fire Dept.

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City of Henderson firefighters know that the next call they get could involve saving someone’s life. It’s what they train for.

For the past seven or eight years, however, the firefighters at Central Station One on Dabney Drive have taken to the street – literally – to help fight a different battle, one that can be just as deadly as a house fire or car crash.

Firefighters take to the busy street in front of the station to conduct their “fill the boot” campaign and donated all the proceeds to the Angel Fund at Maria Parham Health’s Cancer Center. This year’s three-day effort netted a whopping $19,611, which Chief Tim Twisdale presented to cancer center staff on Monday afternoon. In remarks to the group following the check presentation, Cancer Center Director Kimberly Smith remembered former Chief Steve Cordell, who lost his battle with cancer in January 2023. “This was always something special to him,” Smith said of the Angel Fund project. “So we decided we were going to name it the Steve Cordell Angel Fund moving forward.”

City Manager Terrell Blackmon said this is the second year that Cordell has not been a part of the check presentation. “He was a big, strong proponent of this effort,” Blackmon said.

Chief Twisdale presented the check to hospital staff, and said he hopes the tradition will continue. “It warms our hearts to be able to do this every year,” Twisdale said. “We count you guys as a big part of that blessing…taking care of us and the community.”

Thanks also go to all those who donated over the course of the three days of the campaign, Battalion Chief Lee Edmonds said later. None of it would be possible without community support, he said.

Those tall boots got filled while firefighters held up traffic with their singing, dancing, just having a good time to support a good cause, Twisdale said.

The coins and bills that added up to the more than $19,000 donation helps cancer patients with transportation, medicine, food and more, said MPH Social Worker Hope Breedlove.

“Transportation is a huge barrier to care,” Breedlove said, adding that the Angel Fund has provided 1,072 rides since mid-January 2024. That averages out to about 5 rides per treatment day.

One gentleman had to come to the clinic twice a week for treatment, and it wasn’t that he didn’t have a car – he simply was too sick to drive himself.

“A lot of good people come into the clinic – this is great to help them bridge the gap,” she said.

Heather Endecott is an RN who works in the clinic side of the cancer center. She said the Angel Fund, in addition to the transportation support, has helped provide oral chemotherapy to some patients for years, indicating that the much-needed medications are helping people get effective treatment and live longer lives.

The Angel Fund has helped 78 families with gas, 66 families with food and countless others get medicine.

“Medication is a big area that we spend a lot of time helping (with), life sustaining medicines, medicines to control their symptoms, medicines to keep them out of the hospital, medicines to keep them from having to call 911 in the middle of the night,” Smith said.

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TownTalk: Commissioners Tap Fund Balance To Pay Overdue Bills, Health Care Overruns At Jail

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Vance County Commissioners are tapping the county’s fund balance to take care of a couple of bills – to the tune of more than $822,000 – that involve health care at the local detention center.

Of that amount, $352,000 will be used to pay past due invoices, some dating back to 2019, that were not paid by the county’s former finance director.

County Manager C. Renee Perry told commissioners during the Dec. 2 meeting that the former finance director had failed to process invoices from Prime Health. Perry said Prime Health, during the same period, experienced staffing shortages which further exacerbated the delays in processing invoices.

“We are committed to resolving this matter efficiently,” Perry told commissioners, “while maintaining our partnership with Prime Health, ensuring continued high-quality health care services for the Vance County Detention Center.”

Perry said, going forward, the county will put in place an enhanced tracking system and hold regular reconciliation meetings to make sure payments are made in a timely manner.

Commissioners also approved using another $470,000 to pay for the health care of inmates, some of whom aren’t even housed in the local jail.

The payment is based on the jail’s average daily population, which lately has been over-capacity, “so costs are increasing significantly,” Perry noted.

The $470,000 will pay for overages between July and December, as well as the six-month contract extension. At Perry’s recommendation, the commissioners approved renewing the contract for six months, through June 2025, instead of an annual contract. The plan is to try to get the next contract based on the fiscal year (July-June) and move away from the calendar year-based contract. The commissioners also asked for information about how many inmates are housed in other detention centers and how much that costs the county.

Assistant County Manager Jeremy Jones told commissioners that he recently arranged for two inmates to be taken to the jail in Edgecombe County, but they were sent back to Vance County because of bad behavior.

In another incident at the Vance County facility, an inmate sprayed four detention officers in the eyes with a combination of bleach, feces and urine.

Board Chair Sean Alston asked the manager to do some research to determine how much money the county has spent for capital improvements and maintenance on the jail over the past two years.

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TownTalk: Farm City Luncheon Held At Farmers Market

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The folks who gathered at the Vance County Regional Farmers Market for the Farm-City luncheon were treated to some good ol’ Southern style food – fried chicken, barbecue, with all the fixin’s, but surely the sweet treat came when local historian Mark Pace shared a brief – but comprehensive – history of agriculture in the area we call home.

There is little doubt that agriculture has been a major player in this area since before the county was established – tobacco was king, but over the years, other products have provided livelihoods.

The Continental Plant Co. in Kittrell touted “the largest stock of choice strawberry plants in the world,” or so a headline on the cover of the spring 1898 catalogue reported.  The company shipped plants all over the continent – $1.25 per 1,000 plants.

The Blacknalls ran 3,000 acres for the Continental Plant Co., Pace said. “They shipped all over the world because of the railroad,” he said.

J.P. Taylor started his tobacco operation in Vance County, which later morphed into Universal Leaf.

E.G. Davis had a side-hustle with his chicken farming business, Pace said. Locals will know where it was located: That’s right – Chicken Farm Road.

The cotton crop helped create the mills that, for years, churned out products for the textile industry. Back in the 1840’s, cotton was selling for between 7 cents and 8 cents a pound, Pace said.

“Just about every farm had a little grove of mulberry trees,” he said. What likes mulberry trees? Silkworms. And, though brief, there was a large silk industry in the area. No wonder – at that time, a pound of silk was worth $4 a pound.

A lot of good farmland now rests below Kerr Lake, that manmade resource that has been the source of water and recreation for many since the late 1950’s.

And nobody is surprised to hear statistics of decreasing farm ownership, given the rise of residential housing and other development that has no association with agriculture.

The Vance County Farm Bureau provided a snapshot of information about agricultural production in the county, all conveniently located on paper placemats on the luncheon tables.

The average farm size is about 225 acres, down by almost 20 percent from 2017.

The county has just more than 38,000 acres of farmland, but that figure is down a whopping 42 percent from just seven years ago.

There are 108 female farmers and 172 male farmers, and 88 new and beginning farmers in the county.

Farmers are increasingly aging out of their chosen livelihood – it’s a hard job that often takes a toll on health and finances. Today’s farms may look different than those of decades past, but agriculture continues to be strong in Vance County.

Extension Horticulture Agent Michael Ellington said it’s important to know the history of agriculture in our county, and it’s equally important that farmers provide mentorship to the next generation to make sure that agriculture’s future remains bright.

Listen to Pace’s talk in its entirety at www.wizs.com.

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