Meet the people and ideas behind the Sledge Institute

The first time Dr. Chandra Sledge Mathias was approached about starting a charter school was in 2009 during the second year of her principalship.  Her response was, "People do that?!" Needless to say, she wasn't ready at that time. Over the years, she's been asked the same question many times.  The idea started to take root within her, and eventually blossomed into a call to action.  Her educational leadership journey has taken her to schools across the United States and Internationally. She's served as a teacher, school leader, consultant, leadership coach, and supported school design.  Most importantly she's developed the skills, knowledge, and dispositions necessary to answer, "the call".  

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In 2020, she launched her education-facing company, Wouldn't It Be Cool If Organization with the intention of supporting education innovation, creating opportunities for educators to connect with and learn from one another, and for educators to collaborate with their global peers.  When the pandemic hit and she was sheltering in place along with the rest of the world, she took advantage of the "stillness" and started to ideate around the question, "Wouldn't it be cool if there was a school that embodied all of the inspiring & powerful practices that she had seen in schools around the world? And wouldn't it be cool if a school like that existed in the Kerr-Tar region of North Carolina where she grew up?" Deeply grounded in the belief that if we see a need and we have the ability to address the need, then we should DO IT. She ordered giant post-it notes and started to put thoughts to paper. Pretty soon, she shared ideas with fellow K-12 educators, families, friends, professionals from several industries, higher-education leaders, and most importantly, she sat down with YOUTH, to learn directly from them. Those conversations led to the formation of a design team who solidified the values which laid the foundation for the Sledge Institute mission. The design team evolved into the founding governing board and "friends of the Sledge Institute", and today we are on the adventure of a lifetime: bringing the Sledge Institute to life! Follow our journey and if you're feeling adventurous, JOIN IN!