Las Vegas, Rochester Name New Leaders; Albuquerque Superintendent Receives Contract Extension

  • Two educators with vast leadership experience have been named to lead schools in Las Vegas and Rochester, N.Y.

    Jhone Ebert, currently Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction, has been named superintendent of the Clark County School District, where she began her career in education 35 years ago as a math teacher. The district educates nearly 310,000 students.

    Her early roles in Clark County schools encompassed magnet schools, curriculum and professional development, chief technology officer, and innovation officer. She later directed  PreK-20 education policy in New York State before being named Nevada’s education superintendent in 2019.

    In Rochester, Eric Jay Rosser will take the helm on July 1, capping more than two decades of experience in education leadership and management.

    Rosser most recently was chief of the Poughkeepsie City School District in New York and previously served in the Buffalo, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., school districts. Rochester City School District has 22,000 students.

    He is a 2024 graduate of the Council of the Great City Schools’ Michael Casserly Urban Executive Leadership Institute.

    The Casserly Institute – named after the Council’s former executive director – trains current and aspiring superintendents to lead large urban districts. Since its founding in 2023, the institute has placed five of its 20 graduates, including Rosser, into superintendent or interim schools chief roles, a strong record for a new program.

    Contract Extension in Albuquerque

    Meanwhile, Gabriella Durán Blakey has received a two-year extension to lead New Mexico’s Albuquerque Public Schools through June 2028. The board cited progress toward key goals since Blakey assumed the post in July 2024. The district enrolls 77,000 students.

    “The superintendent and her administration are working diligently toward an improvement of student outcomes, and over the course of the past seven-plus months she’s been able to demonstrate progress toward those goals in our regular monitoring sessions,” said board Vice President Courtney Jackson in a news statement.