Educator heading for new post in Reno

Pedro Martinez, deputy superintendent of the Clark County School District, beat out four other finalists to become the new superintendent of the Washoe County School District, Nevada's second-largest district, officials in Reno said Friday.

The 62,000-student Washoe district is about one-fifth the size of Clark County, where Martinez is second in command and oversees instruction.

"My plans have always been to be superintendent," said Martinez, who has been with Clark County for one school year. "I wasn't looking at all."

People from Washoe reached out to Martinez after their superintendent, Heath Morrison, left to lead Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina.

Martinez has been clear that he wants to take the lead at a district, said Clark County Superintendent Dwight Jones, who hired Martinez for an agreed-upon two years but gave his blessing for Martinez to leave.

Martinez will be returning to a familiar district, having served as deputy superintendent in Washoe before taking the job in Clark County. While he was there, Washoe's graduation rate improved from 56 percent in 2009 to 70 percent in 2011. In his year at Clark County, the graduation rate went from 59 percent last year to 65 percent this year.

"I want to take Washoe to the next level," said Martinez, noting plans for more career and technical schools. He also would like to see more STEM academies, which focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

And Martinez plans to stay in Washoe for the "long haul." He is grateful to have an ally in Southern Nevada, in Superintendent Jones, which creates a unified statewide force. Together, the two school districts constitute 90 percent of Nevada's public school students.

"With both of our districts heading in the same direction, there's no limit to where we can go," he said.

His last day in Clark County hasn't been decided, district spokeswoman Amanda Fulkerson said.

Martinez was also one of two finalists vying for the superintendency of the Philadelphia school district.

"My family has really fallen for Nevada, frankly," said Martinez, who lived in Chicago for 35 years and was regional superintendent at Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school district, with 409,000 students.

Martinez's background isn't in education. He is a certified public accountant and was director of finance and technology for the Archdiocese of Chicago and audit manager at Deloitte & Touche and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@review
journal.com or 702-383-0279.