Just as one yearlong superintendent search comes to an end, the state is preparing to embark on another.
Jhone Ebert, who has served as superintendent of public instruction since 2019, was selected in March as the next superintendent of the Clark County School District. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo appointed Steve Canavero, who held the role prior to Ebert, in the interim position, effective April 14.
The Clark County School Board will vote next week on an employment agreement for Ebert, though no contract or start date was made public as of Thursday.
The process for selecting a state superintendent looks different from CCSD’s superintendent search. The State Board of Education will select three candidates from whom Lombardo can select — or, as the board discussed at Thursday’s meeting, he can choose to reject all of them.
The board voted Thursday to garner public input, including through events in both Southern and Northern Nevada, before finalizing its criteria for candidates at its May 14 meeting. It aims to put forward three names by its July 30 meeting, but board members agreed to “be nimble” and delay the process if they do not have candidates they are proud to put forward.
At Thursday’s meeting, board members discussed the criteria they were looking for, which included classroom experience, bipartisanship and a proven track record in improving student outcomes.
Board member Tim Hughes also noted the importance of a deep understanding of federal education policy, especially given President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to close the U.S. Department of Education.
“That is going to be a tricky thing for all states to navigate,” Hughes said.
Timeline is ‘nimble’
When it came to the timeline, board members debated whether to expedite the process or slow it down.
Board member Danielle Ford expressed her grievances with Canavero, largely for his history of “pushing for charter schools” and the fact that he was appointed without the board’s consent. She pushed for the board to make its selection by the July meeting.
“It doesn’t make me feel like I’m doing my job on this board by allowing someone who was appointed to remain,” Ford said.
Ultimately, President Katherine Dockweiler’s motion set the board to have a tentative timeline with the option to delay if needed.
Selection process
Another difference for the state board is that it does not have a fund to hire a search firm. CCSD paid upward of $80,000 for a consulting firm to conduct a national search. Hughes warned that more of the work would need to fall on board members as opposed to Nevada Department of Education staff, because some of those staff members may be seeking the superintendent role.
He also suggested that the board use a performance-based framework in its selection process and possibly put the candidates to some sort of real world test. He said that having watched many superintendent selection processes, “it often just becomes who is the best salesperson.”
That’s a discussion that came up during CCSD’s search process as well, when public commenters urged the board not to just listen to the best interviewer, but who had a proven track record.
In addition to community feedback, the board also entertained meeting with Lombardo’s team throughout the process to ensure that he did not ultimately reject the three people they chose.
Ford urged the board away from such a move.
“We need to listen to the community and submit three names that match those criteria, and that’s all we can do,” Ford said. “We need to do our role in the way that we can with our control. If we submit those three names that match what the community wants and the direction that this board wants to go forward with and then the governor denies it, that’s another problem for a different day.”
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.
