Jhone Ebert’s career is coming full circle.
The Clark County School Board voted unanimously Thursday to approve a four-year contract with Ebert, giving her the mantle as the next superintendent of the Clark County School District, the nation’s fifth largest school district where she started her education career 35 years ago.
In a press conference after the vote, Ebert said it’s something she would have never imagined when she started as a math teacher at Von Tobel Middle School in Las Vegas.
“I go into this with running shoes … and my eyes are wide open,” she said. “We know there are challenges in our school district, but they are solvable. We need to rebuild our trust, regain stability, restore confidence and improve our student achievement.”
Since 2019, Ebert has served as the state superintendent of public instruction, overseeing Nevada’s K-12 education, under two governors — Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who appointed her to the role, and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Her first day with the district is April 14. Under her four-year contract, Ebert will receive an annual base pay of $385,000 — which is slightly less than what her predecessor, Jesus Jara, made when he left the district last year.
Unlike Jara, who was hired by a split board in a 4-2 vote and one abstention, Ebert had buy-in from all 11 trustees, including four nonvoting, appointed trustees, who unanimously selected her as the next superintendent on March 13.
Ebert is inheriting the district facing financial uncertainty at the state and national levels, including funding cut threats from the Trump administration.
In interviews, teacher union leaders, parents and lawmakers said they’re hopeful that Ebert will be able to leverage connections she’s cultivated across the state and in the Legislature to mend relationships severed by Jara — while warning that she’ll need to chart a new course for the district if she wants to see success.
“I think the damage of the Jara years has caused a deep seeded skepticism of anything coming from central administration, and that’s a huge hurdle she’s got to get over,” said Clark County Education Association Executive (CCEA) Director John Vellardita. “She cannot do things that are part of the Jara legacy. She’s got to run from that as fast as she can, because she’ll get stigmatized by educators if she does.”
Deep roots
While the National Education Association of Southern Nevada, a local affiliate of the statewide teachers union, did not endorse a superintendent finalist, President Vicki Kreidel said union members wanted someone who was already familiar with the community, unlike Jara, who was from Florida.
Two of the finalists — Ebert and Nevada State High School CEO Jesse Welsh — previously worked for the district and currently work in Nevada. The third finalist, Ben Shuldiner, is the current superintendent for the Lansing School District in Michigan.
“We had a lot of red flags about Shuldiner and one of them was because he’s not from around here,” Kreidel said. “We were concerned that he would not understand the community and know how to get this district in the right direction.”
Kreidel said she got a good impression of Ebert’s “caring and nurturing” personality during the pandemic, when Ebert personally called her to make sure that educators had everything they needed during distance learning.
“She asked if there was any way she could help … so that makes me feel like she may be more responsive than Jara was about issues that are happening in the district,” Kreidel said.
During a March 10 school board meeting, Abraham Camejo, a district graduate and father who serves on the district’s bond oversight committee and Rancho High School’s school organization team, said he supports Ebert because the district needs a mother in charge.
Kreidel said many educators agree with him.
“We’ve been left to our own devices in a lot of ways when it comes to district leadership and I think we want someone who’s going to listen and make things better,” she said.
CCEA, the official bargaining unit for CCSD teachers which is not affiliated with NEA-SN, didn’t directly endorse Ebert, but hinted at the union’s preference in a March 12 statement calling for a new leader who is already plugged into politics at the state and national levels.
Vellardita said in his 15 years as the head of the teachers union, he hasn’t seen a superintendent more involved in state politics than Ebert.
He added that Ebert’s relationship with the governor and the Legislature gives her an advantage over her predecessor. During his nearly six years as superintendent, Jara fought with lawmakers, Ebert, former Gov. Sisolak as well as CCEA — with legislative leaders such as Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) eventually calling for Jara to leave the district.
“[Jara] just simply didn’t get it and when he was pulled into the system to understand it or be accountable … he was extremely arrogant or indifferent or downright stupid,” Vellardita said.
Yeager said he thinks Ebert’s deep roots in the state are going to make a difference in how the district and the Legislature work together.
“There’s obviously a lot to work at the Clark County School District, but I think the key to accomplishing that is open lines of communication and collaboration,” he said after a March 18 press conference. “We did not have that under Dr. Jara.”
Rebecca Dirks Garcia — a parent and administrator of the popular CCSD Parents Facebook group — said she wants to see Ebert cultivate a better relationship with parents. She said Jara did that at the beginning of his tenure by setting up a parent advisory committee and community advisory committee, but those efforts eroded over time.
Dirks Garcia said she thinks past district changes and decisions such as the district’s grading reform, which began in 2021 and was later tweaked in 2023, haven’t been successful because they didn’t have buy-in from families.
“If we’re going to make progress, we’ve got to make sure that parents are seen as vital partners to their children’s education, and that they have a seat at the table in the decision-making process of the district,” Dirks Garcia said.
Challenges ahead
Kreidel said she’s concerned that comments Ebert has made in favor of extending the school day to help students recover academically from COVID could lead veteran teachers to resign.
“A lot of educators are saying out loud [that] if we extend the school day and we don’t get compensated for the extra time, I am leaving the district,” Kreidel said.
She said having educators voluntarily sign up to stay after school for tutoring for extra pay would be fine, but “what I am concerned about is extending everyone’s day and for no extra pay.”
Dirks Garcia said parents in her Facebook group overwhelmingly opposed the idea of longer school days, a rare consensus for the diverse parent group.
Vellardita said CCEA supports efforts to try to find more instructional time including summer school. He said some schools already extend their days by as much as 19 minutes.
“All of those things should be on the table,” he said. “That’s what these kids need.”
Any Ebert-led initiatives may be limited by the district’s financial status.
Despite the historic $2 billion increase in Nevada’s K-12 education funding in 2023, the state’s per pupil average remains $4,000 below the national average. Under Lombardo’s proposed state budget, Nevada’s per pupil average will only increase by $2 next year. This comes as the district is still reeling from a budget deficit last year that’s causing some schools to cut positions.
Ebert said at a Thursday press conference that she will go to Carson City to push for additional funding, though acknowledging another multi-billion dollar infusion in education is unlikely.
Kreidel said the school district should be cutting administrative positions before eliminating positions that directly affect students.
“People who are kid-facing, that should be the first priority when it comes to staffing,” Kreidel said.
Vellardita said navigating those challenges is going to start with Ebert building out her leadership teams, which includes hiring a strong chief financial officer, chief academics officers and associate superintendents.
“Her challenge is going to be to be able to build that kind of team, and to navigate politics, to navigate fiscal constraints, to try to achieve the best team that she can to kind of move the needle,” he said.
Ebert said she’s undaunted by the task ahead.
“We have potential in our youth, the richness and resolve of our community and the passion and potential of our staff,” she said. “The school district, I know, can be successful for the right reasons, and I’m optimistic that we can regain our footing and our stature.”
