A leading candidate to be the next superintendent of the Clark County School District received an award last year for her DEI advocacy. Worse, she’s already Nevada’s state superintendent.
Meet Jhone Ebert. She’s not a household name, but she has been running the Nevada Department of Education since 2019. Former Gov. Steve Sisolak initially put her in that role. Gov. Joe Lombardo reappointed her in 2023. Now, she’s one of the final four candidates to be the district’s next leader.
She has the most juice behind her. She has received endorsements from state Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, D-Las Vegas, former trustee Linda Young, higher education Chancellor Patricia Charlton and Gov. Joe Lombardo, who offered “my highest recommendation for Ms. Jhone Ebert. I do so without reservation.”
But there are plenty of reasons to be concerned. Ebert describes herself as “an equity champion” in her biography. Yes, that’s the middle term in the “diversity, equity and inclusion” ideology that has infested the public schools. DEI advocates hold that America is inherently white supremacist and that systemic racism is responsible for racial disparities in outcomes. In the name of equity, districts around the country have dropped honors classes.
There’s lots of evidence that Ebert adheres to this ideology. Last March, she received a congressional award celebrating her commitment to DEI. Last June, she spoke at a Voice4Equity conference. That group’s mission is “to disrupt years of systemic bias and inequities.” It bemoans that “powerful decision-makers in education” remain “overwhelmingly male,” which leads to “inequitable outcomes across society.”
In September 2023, the state Department of Education hosted “Equity Trainings.” Covered topics included, “How does oppression impact the experiences of children and adults in our system?” and how implicit bias creates and perpetuates inequities. It partnered with the National Equity Project. That group wants to increase its members’ capacity to “use a racial equity and systems thinking lens.”
There’s a simpler way to describe this. Ebert is woke. Listen to her testimony this month before the Assembly Education Committee.
“Our data in Nevada revealed persistent disparity in suspension and expulsion rates among racial and ethnic groups,” Ebert said. She continued, “These patterns highlight the challenges in achieving equitable disciplinary practices and underscore the need for targeted interventions to address these disparities.”
That has been tried before. One of the first things former Superintendent Jesus Jara did was reduce student suspensions and expulsions in order to reduce racial disparities. He even fired secondary school deans.
Predictably, bad behavior spiraled out of control. The policy was such a disaster that he reversed course in 2022, putting harsher discipline measures in place. But the damage remains. A major reason the district can’t retain teachers is that many don’t feel safe. Jara’s push to dumb-down grading standards — again, in the name of equity — is another failure that needs to be reversed.
But it’s unlikely an “equity champion” such as Ebert would do that. The School Board should reject her and any other candidate who adheres to this flawed worldview. Lombardo should fire her, too. Nevada’s students need someone focused on excellence, not equity.
Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow
@victorjoecks on X.
