School board eliminates 2 superintendent candidates; Down to final 4

The Clark County School Board voted to remove two superintendent candidates and add another in its search for a new leader of the nation’s fifth largest school district.

That means that the board will interview Jhone Ebert, John Anzalone, Ben Shuldiner and newly added candidate Jesse Welsh next week. Ebert is the head of Nevada’s Department of Education, Anzalone is a superintendent in Washington state, Shuldiner is a superintendent in Michigan and Welsh is head of a charter school in Nevada.

Last week, the consulting firm hired to help the Clark County School District choose its next boss proposed a slate of six candidates out of over 40 applicants for the School Board to interview. The board had the ability to remove or add any candidates at Tuesday’s meeting.

The board started Tuesday’s meeting by voting unanimously to remove Pedro Martinez from the slate of people to interview next week.

It also voted to remove Jason Glass. Board members said Glass was qualified but did not seem like a good fit for the school district.

The board also voted to add Welsh, one of the applicants who did not make the initial slate, to the list of candidates to be interviewed.

One of the other candidates, Joshua Starr, withdrew his candidacy prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Shawn Joseph, a representative from the consulting firm, told the board.

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

Welsh added to list

Welsh is currently the chief executive officer at Nevada State High School charter school. Prior to that, he was the superintendent of the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz.

He has held many roles at CCSD starting in 1996. He served as a principal, assistant principal, as well as a math teacher and a Spanish teacher, among other roles.

Several people spoke on Tuesday in support of adding Welsh, especially given his history at the school district and the fact that he is bilingual. They also questioned why he had not been on the initial six-person slate released last week.

Joseph, a representative of the search firm, said that he had not been initially included because he lacked administrative experience.

“I am highly familiar with Clark County School District and its operation yet have outside perspective on the organization and its successes and challenges,” Welsh wrote in his application. “I remain committed to our students, families, and community in southern Nevada and look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve our community further as the next superintendent of CCSD.”

Trustee: ‘Drama’ seems to dog Martinez

Martinez faced intense scrutiny at Tuesday’s meeting.

Martinez was fired in December from his role as CEO of Chicago Public Schools but will stay in the role until June. He is currently suing the Chicago Board of Education.

Martinez also sued the Washoe County School District in 2014 after he was fired as the superintendent. He was back on the job 10 days later.

Prior to that, he was a deputy superintendent at CCSD in 2011.

“It seems like a lot of drama follows this guy,” Trustee Emily Stevens said Tuesday.

Anna Binder said that as soon as she posted the six candidates, she received a lot of anger about Martinez.

Teacher Tiffanie Bemoll told the School Board that she was shocked that Martinez was even being considered, given his controversial time in Nevada.

“It was a mess,” she said. “I’ve been here for all the drama, and I’m done.”

After a quick glance at the candidates last week, Vicki Kreidel, president of the National Education Association of Southern Nevada, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Martinez was the only candidate who was a definite “no” for her.

“He has a dismal record,” Kreidel said.

Selecting the next boss

Stakeholders and observers have emphasized the importance of making the right pick for superintendent.

“The consequences of selecting an unqualified candidate or the inability to select a candidate are too high and too much is at stake,” Marie Neisess, the president of the Clark County Education Association teachers union, said in a statement.

The union’s executive director, John Vellardita, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the union will wait to watch the interview process play out before weighing in on the candidates.

The board will interview the first round of candidates starting at 3 p.m. on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25. The second round of interviews on March 10 and 11 will include community forums. According to the current timeline, the board will debrief and make its selection on March 13.

Jhone Ebert

“The challenge CCSD faces is daunting but solvable,” wrote Ebert, who is Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction, in her application letter to the School Board. She added that she was optimistic about CCSD’s future.

Ebert also applied for the role in 2018 and is no stranger to the Clark County School District. 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 Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell about the budget errors.

Before her current role, Ebert was the senior deputy commissioner for education policy in New York state, where she said the graduate rate increased by more than 2 percent. She also established career and technical education as a pathway to high school graduation in New York.

Ebert also served as the chief innovation and productivity officer in Clark County between 2013 and 2015, and said that CCSD was named the 2015 “AP District of the Year” for large gains by under-represented students.

Ebert assumed her current role in 2019 under former Gov. Steve Sisolak and now works under Lombardo. Among several recommendation letters included in her application, Lombardo offered his “highest recommendation” for Ebert.

In addition to her data and policy qualifications, Lombardo wrote: “Jhone has the rare ability to connect with others, no matter who they are or how many stripes they have on their sleeve.”

John Anzalone

Anzalone, who is superintendent of the Camas School District in Washington, said in his application that his journey is “deeply rooted” in the east side of Las Vegas.

Several public commenters affirmed those roots at Tuesday’s meeting. Teachers who had worked with Anzalone spoke to his strong leadership and compassion.

“He leads with an open heart, but firm hand,” Gianna Imbriani, a teacher at Sierra Vista High School, told the board on Tuesday.

He has over two decades of experience in the school district, including serving as the assistant superintendent from 2021 to 2022 and as a principal at three high schools in the district.

“My background has prepared me to navigate the complexities of urban education while remaining deeply connected to the values of the communities I serve. I am driven to be a role model, showing that a local kid who faced adversity can rise to become a servant leader and make a lasting impact,” Anzalone wrote in his application.

At Eldorado High School, he said in his application, he led initiatives that led to a 24 percent increase in graduation.

In 2018, Anzalone ran for U.S. Congress, but he was defeated in the Democratic primary. His application includes several recommendations from state politicians.

He has served as the superintendent in Camas since 2022. He wrote in his letter to the board that he and his family members’ hearts have remained in Las Vegas.

Ben Shuldiner

Shuldiner, the superintendent of the Lansing School District in Michigan, said he raised the four-year high school graduation rate in Lansing by 27 percent in three years. He also said he raised districtwide daily attendance by 14 percent in three years. From 2022 to 2024, the school district had the highest increase on reading scores in the state of Michigan.

In his letter to the board, Shuldiner wrote that he has watched hours of board meetings and read news reports, and that he believes his skill set was the best fit for the needs of CCSD.

“This is very similar to the situation I walked into in Lansing. I arrived on the heels of a few public and problematic issues. The community had lost faith in its leadership and the central office was seen as distant and aloof,” he wrote. “Knowing this, I set up very clear and specific communications expectations, was present throughout the district, and created the administration offices to be a place with open doors and warm coffee, rather than a fortress where no one could enter.”

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