The Clark County School District (CCSD) has a new boss. Monday marks Jhone Ebert’s first day as the CCSD’s new superintendent. Fun fact, she actually started her career there 35 years ago as a math teacher. 

The district’s school board approved her four-year contract last Thursday, which includes an annual base salary of $385,000. That’s higher than her predecessor, Jesus Jara, who started at an annual base salary of $320,000, but ended with a final annual base salary of $395,000. 

The board added a clause in Ebert’s contract in the event that she resigns before the end of her term that will prevent her from making any new hires, promotions, appointments, transfer of personnel at every level of operations or issuing any raises for any employees once notice is given. That’s a reaction to raises that Jara gave out to members of his cabinet before he departed in 2024. 

Meanwhile, Friday was the deadline for bills at the Nevada Legislature to make it out of their first committee or be granted an exemption to avoid ending up in the legislative graveyard. See the full recap from The Nevada Independent’s legislative team. 

Notable education bills that survived include: 

• SB444, which would require school districts to adopt cellphone limitation policies. 
• AB156, which could lead to school board members in Clark and Washoe counties making as much as county commissioners. 
• AB533, which would establish a statewide open zoning process

I want to hear from you! Send questions, comments or suggestions on what I should be covering to [email protected].

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School Spotlight

Carson high school students highlight local entrepreneurs in their new business magazine

A new business magazine produced by Carson High School students will soon be hitting magazine stands.

Entrepreneurs in Action, which officially went live Thursday, marks the beginning of a new tradition at Carson High. It provides students with hands-on learning opportunities in marketing, sales, interview techniques, journalism, graphic design and business management. The magazine’s profits go back to the students to support the school’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club and field trips for its marketing students, as well as provide scholarships and prizes for the students involved with the project. 

“This is just a huge blessing for us to be able to support our program with something that really makes sense, something that's about business, something that gives the kids these amazing skills of being able to sell to a real business or being able to write an article and conduct an interview,” said Cody Downing, Carson High business and marketing teacher and FBLA co-adviser. 

The magazine was a collaboration between students in Downing’s business and marketing classes, the school’s FBLA club, Carson High social studies teacher and FBLA leader Angila Golik, Jenny Treece, ad director for Carson Now, and Jon Rogers, a retired serial entrepreneur. 

The students and their mentors worked tirelessly throughout the semester to bring the magazine to life. They celebrated the magazine’s completion at a Thursday launch party.  

“We have a lot of really amazing people who are doing really great things, and no one seems to know about it so we wanted to shine some light on that,” Downing said. 

The articles include profile stories of former FBLA students who went on to start their own boba drink business and a wedding and events business.

“It's super cool to see them actually using those skills in real life, really making us proud,” Downing said. 

The magazine’s top student writer, Cooper Feuling, son of the district’s superintendent, said he enjoyed learning about people’s stories and how to conduct better interviews. 

“It was definitely important to speak with them like they’re a real person, like you are trying to get to know them,” he said.

Brianna Nuñez was one of the club’s top advertising salespeople. The junior, who’s also a two-time cross-country state champion, sold more than $7,000 worth of advertising while juggling her classwork and sports. 

Nuñez said she was initially nervous about meeting with business people, but gradually began to feel more confident as she worked alongside Treece.

“Every meeting after that, I would just get better and better at communicating,” she said.

The magazine’s first edition brought in about $74,000 in revenue from ad sales and donations from community members who were excited to support the school’s endeavor. 

Downing said in addition to supporting the club, $1,300 will go toward prizes for the marketing student writers and another $7,500 will go toward scholarships for the students on the sales team, which will be based on their percentage of sales. Those who aren’t seniors will have the opportunity to earn more scholarship money as they continue with the magazine. 

“We're going to be doing it every year, and I would say bigger and better, but it's going to be pretty hard to beat,” Downing said. “We're really proud of this particular edition.”

Have a student or staffer who we should feature in the next edition of School Spotlight? Share your nominations with me at [email protected].

Reading Assignments

Can Jhone Ebert fix ‘deep-seated skepticism’ as new Clark County schools leader?

Teacher union leaders, parents and lawmakers said they’re hopeful that Ebert will be able to mend relationships severed by her predecessor, Jesus Jara

Nevada, other states sue over Trump administration's sudden halt of pandemic relief aid for schools

This affects about $10 million to $12 million in federal funding for Nevada schools, according to a recent estimate by the Nevada Department of Education. 

Extra Credit

KUNR: AB 416 aims to ban book bans in Nevada’s public institutions

Events

🥕 Giant Student Farmers Market — Tuesday, April 22, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 

Location: Downtown Summerlin, 1980 Festival Plaza Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89135

The event by Green Our Planet will feature produce grown by 500 students from 55 schools. 

Featured social media post 

So cool!