Tuesday night’s Clark County School Board meeting went smoothly for four hours.
The 11 trustees asked questions of the three remaining superintendent candidates — state Superintendent Jhone Ebert, charter school CEO Jesse Welsh and Ben Shuldiner, a superintendent in Lansing, Michigan — from a list of pre-written questions.
But around 9 p.m., the board grappled with the question: Who gets a say in the selection?
It is the seven elected trustees who will ultimately select the next superintendent at Thursday’s meeting. In the months leading up to that decision, however, the board made an effort to encourage public participation in the process, from focus groups and online surveys months ago to a community forum on Monday night.
Other groups, such as legislators, union leaders and administrators, met with candidates on Tuesday night as well.
But at the end of Tuesday’s meeting several trustees worried that the process for determining who has a voice in the matter — and how that voice is counted — may not be so clear.
Two things caused concern for some trustees: an unsigned letter from “the business community” with a ranking of candidates that was included as reference material for the meeting and what appeared to be a unilateral decision by President Irene Bustamante Adams to include another union in the union leaders meeting.
“I think this is a great learning opportunity more than anything,” Trustee Brenda Zamora said of Bustamante Adams’ decision.
Influence of business
Included as reference material for Tuesday’s meeting was a letter from the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance. The letter bore no names but noted it was based on a meeting in which the Las Vegas Chamber, Asian Chamber, Latin Chamber, Urban Chamber, Boulder City Chamber and Henderson Chamber met with the superintendent candidates.
It ranked Shuldiner as the first-choice candidate, with Ebert next and Welsh last. In a statement, the LVGEA said that the letter was not an endorsement. It also said that it held the meeting and sent the letter at the request of the School Board.
Several trustees, however, expressed confusion and frustration about the document and why it was a reference material.
“They all have these opinions based on one interview, and then it suddenly becomes bible,” Trustee Emily Stevens said. “For me, it’s very frustrating.”
Bustamante Adams is the deputy director of Workforce Connections, which connects job seekers to education, job training and employment opportunities. She has been criticized in the past for prioritizing “the business community” in decision-making.
Those still in the audience during the 9 p.m. debate snapped in agreement.
“This is not a very relevant document,” Sylvia Lazos said during public comment. “I would suggest you give it very little weight.”
Trustees Tameka Henry and Linda Cavazos both said that when groups had reached out to them, they had directed them to the community forum. Several other trustees spoke about the emails trustees receive from constituents, or other groups who submit letters of support as public comment.
The Las Vegas Alliance of Black School Educators, for instance, submitted a letter for public comment in a February meeting in support of Ebert.
“I’m trying to understand how the decisions were made that we say these groups will get to be part of this process, and then if they submit a letter, we’re going to make it reference material,” Trustee Emily Stevens said.
After going back-and-forth with legal counsel, the board ultimately voted to move the document to public comment.
At the same time, trustees also learned that Bustamante Adams had invited the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union to the union meet and greet on Tuesday night. Trustees had previously agreed to invite the five bargaining units that work directly with CCSD.
“I do find that a little bit unfair for other unions,” Zamora said.
Community feedback
Another piece of reference material also caused some confusion.
After Monday night’s community forum, people had the chance to fill out a feedback form, the results of which went to the board.
The graph, also in reference material, showed a breakdown of opinions on the three candidates.
Shuldiner got the highest ranking as an effective communicator, financial acumen, data-driven decision making for academic achievement and transformational leadership.
Ebert earned the highest ranking in political acumen and knowledge of CCSD, though Shuldiner still ranked higher than Welsh, despite having no CCSD experience.
But Cavazos pointed out that the material lacked clarity — people could fill out the survey multiple times if they chose, and it was unclear who was voting. Nanci Perez, a representative from the consulting firm hired to conduct the search, said that the information was for feedback purposes.
“This is not supposed to be a tally of anything. It’s supposed to really represent how well the community thinks these candidates are a match to the leadership profile,” Perez said.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.
