Two with CCSD experience, 1 outsider compete for superintendent

During the past year, without a permanent leader, the Clark County School District has faced a budget crisis, paid millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements and remained one of the lowest-ranked systems in the country in student performance.

Nevada’s 2025 legislative session, which will decide the school district’s funding, began in February. The future of federal funding, which helps support well over half of the district’s low-income Title I schools, remains unclear.

Amid these challenges (and several others), the Clark County School Board will select a new superintendent to lead the country’s fifth-largest public education system. The question is: Who among three finalists is the best fit?

The community will have a chance to meet and question the final candidates — Jhone Ebert, Ben Shuldiner and Jesse Welsh — at Rancho High School on March 10.

“It’s definitely a tough decision,” National Education Association of Southern Nevada President Vicki Kreidel told the School Board on Tuesday. “Every one of the (three) candidates brings unique qualities, and their leadership style appears to be very different. I’m asking that you remember that CCSD is not in a great position right now. A lot of staff are ready to give up on the district. We need someone who’s going to come in with transformational leadership that’s going to get us all moving in the right direction.”

The district has been without a permanent leader since former Superintendent Jesus Jara resigned in February 2024. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell, the district’s interim superintendent, announced in December that she would not put her name forward for the permanent position.

The school district hired a consulting firm to conduct a national search for its next leader. After focus groups and an online survey, the firm created a leadership profile in September based on what the community desired from its next superintendent, which included recruiting and retaining teachers as well as fostering long-term financial health.

In recent weeks, the School Board has interviewed candidates and debated whether they want someone with CCSD experience or an outsider approach.

But now, in the words of education advocate Anna Binder, it’s time for the candidates to be “thrown to the wolves.”

“The community is going to meet them and they’re going to interview these guys. They’re going to probably eat them alive a little bit,” Trustee Emily Stevens said. “If there’s one thing we know about CCSD and politics in Nevada is that we have a very passionate public.”

Jhone Ebert

Ebert is Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction — a role she has historically used to hold the school district accountable.

She told the board Tuesday that she brings what schools need most: the ability to “achieve impact at scale,” or make critical changes in large organizations.

Most recently, she worked with Gov. Joe Lombardo to assign a compliance monitor to the school district after it struggled with a potential budget deficit this fall. Prior to that, she sent a long list of questions demanding answers from Larsen-Mitchell about the budget errors.

Before her current role, Ebert was the senior deputy commissioner for education policy in New York state. She also served as the chief innovation and productivity officer in Clark County between 2013 and 2015.

Ben Shuldiner

Shuldiner, the superintendent of the Lansing School District in Michigan, is the only candidate remaining without a history in Clark County. The board has expressed skepticism about hiring someone without a deep knowledge of the community and voted to remove former candidate Jason Glass prior to interviewing him, in part due to his lack of familiarity with CCSD.

In his presentation, Shuldiner reminded the board that they chose to do a national search, and said he could be a fresh start for the school district. His energetic presentation to the board included clear research of the school district, including specific components of its budget.

Shuldiner emphasized his achievements in Lansing, which has 11,000 students. He said he raised the four-year high school graduation rate in Lansing by 27 percent in three years.

The only tell of being an outsider was his pronunciation of Nevada, which garnered some groans in the crowd before President Irene Bustamante-Adams corrected it.

Trustee Lorena Biassotti was also the only candidate to vote against moving Shuldiner forward, stating that she was suspicious of why he would leave his district if things were going so well.

Shuldiner told the board on Tuesday that he was not looking to leave Lansing, but that the CCSD opportunity was too good to pass up.

“This is the place that I want to be for the rest of my career,” he said.

Jesse Welsh

Welsh is the CEO of Nevada State High School charter school. Before that, he was the superintendent of the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix.

He held many roles at CCSD starting in 1996, including the associate superintendent of curriculum and professional development. He has also served as a principal, assistant principal, a math teacher and a Spanish teacher, among other roles.

Welsh was not initially in the search firm’s final slate of six candidates, but the board voted to add him after several people spoke in support.

In his presentation to the board last week, Welsh emphasized the importance of expertise and said that he is often referred to as the “data dude” because of his commitment to data-driven solutions. He highlighted his role in leading CCSD to use the online platform Canvas, which it currently uses, as well as switching it to Google.

‘The stench of Jara’

The only candidate who did not move forward from the interview process was John Anzalone.

When he was first put on the slate of finalists, he had the most support in public comment.

But at Tuesday’s meeting, teacher and former Clark County Education Association Vice President Jim Frazee told the board that he had heard Jara was calling principals lobbying for Anzalone. Former state lawmaker and Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said she had heard Jara was lobbying against Ebert. Neither claim has been confirmed, but several people in the community and on the School Board said that likely contributed to the vote against moving Anzalone to the next round.

“I think that the stench of Jara was around,” Isaac Barron, a nonvoting trustee, said. “That Jara toxicity is just something that the board wants to leave behind.”

Both Jara’s tenure as well as the manner of his exit were controversial, including clashes with the teachers union and providing top administrators with large benefits on his way out.

Stevens expressed a similar sentiment, saying the room’s energy seemed to change at the mention of Jara. She said he did not present as well as the others. Aside from the mention of Jara, public commenters — some explicitly mentioning Anzalone and others not — also emphasized the importance of experience managing an organization as large as CCSD.

Anzalone’s successes were limited to the high school level and two years leading the Camas School District, which has around 7,000 students.

Biassotti was the only trustee who voted to move Anzalone forward.

“I’m deeply disappointed that the board decided to overlook the outpouring of support for John Anzalone,” she said.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.