A father's faith in American education drove Carmen Balgobin to Volusia superintendent job
DELAND — On Aug. 31, 2020, the first day of in-person learning after months of schools being closed as a safety precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic, Carmen Balgobin and Jamie Haynes toured several Volusia County schools together.
They had just completed a visit to their third school, R.J. Longstreet Elementary in Daytona Beach, where a little girl had thanked them for reopening schools because she was tired of being around her annoying brothers and loved seeing her friends.
"I started the vehicle and had to pause," Haynes said, "because tears were in my eyes. I didn't sleep the night before because you had to wonder: Are we doing the right thing? There was no guidebook. ... I reached for my purse for a tissue and I looked over and she's got tears, too."
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To Haynes, that moment of reassurance crystallized her faith in Balgobin as an administrator who cares passionately about students and their success.
Other Volusia County School Board members developed a similar confidence in Balgobin during her two-year tenure as a deputy superintendent. For seven months, including that first day of in-person learning, Balgobin was a fill-in for her boss, Scott Fritz, who was on medical leave.
Even though Balgobin left Volusia County for a deputy superintendent job in Broward County in March, the impression she made on board members was strong enough for them to ask her to come back to Volusia County after they had terminated Fritz by a 3-2 vote in April.
She started as superintendent on July 1.
Her journey was an unconventional climb to the top for an unlikely leader.
Move to the United States
Balgobin was raised in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, the daughter of Guyanese immigrants Balgobin and Sue Balgobin, both of whom were descendants of immigrants from India.
They had grown up "very, very poor," Balgobin said, describing her dad as "self-taught," and her mother as having a second-grade education.
"My dad always had this firm, firm belief that a good and strong education is your ticket in life to success. And that it’s the one thing that no one can take away from an individual," she said. "So he instilled that and he ingrained that in me."
She said she excelled at school in Venezuela. "Not because I was smart, but because I was extremely dedicated," Balgobin said. "I gave 150% every day to become the best student, working and completing my homework, being a good student in class, because I believed what my dad said."
When she was 16, Balgobin moved with her parents to the United States, first to Far Rockaway in the Queens borough of New York, where she attended John Adams High School. Her father, in addition to his duties as a priest, worked as a security guard to pay the bills.
"He always wanted me to receive a good, quality English education. And so he made those sacrifices coming here and starting from scratch all over again to give me that opportunity," she said.
She knew enough English to get by in social situations, but not in the classroom.
"So I would have a very thick dictionary with me anywhere I went to translate," Balgobin said. "I was placed into ESOL classes. ... I really had to learn the culture."
Pull of education
Not long after arriving in New York, the family moved to Orange County, where Balgobin graduated from Evans High School in Orlando.
She went on to Valencia Community College and got a job working as a worker's comp adjuster for insurance giant Travelers.
She did that for eight years while surviving a divorce and raising her daughter.
"Really, even though that was a good-paying job, that was not my true calling. So I went back to school and finished up my degree at (the University of Central Florida) in education," she said.
Balgobin went on to earn master's and doctorate degrees in education from Nova Southeastern University.
Her education put her on a 22-year climb to the superintendent's job.
Her first job in education was back at her alma mater, Evans High, teaching foreign language.
She got promoted to district-level jobs in multi-lingual student education, curriculum and instruction and exceptional student education. She became a trainer and coach for staff and teachers.
Then she moved into "school transformation work" at failing schools. She worked as an assistant principal, principal and later a master principal, overseeing two such schools, before being put in charge of all 18 transformation schools in Orange County.
That was when Osceola County Schools recruited her to oversee all 32 of its charter schools, home education and the virtual school. She did that for nearly two years and was then hired as Volusia County's deputy superintendent.
After Fritz returned from medical leave, relationships between the superintendent and board members frayed to the point where Fritz first announced he would not be staying beyond the end of his contract. It's unclear what happened between he and Balgobin, but she announced her move to Broward County Schools as a deputy superintendent.
"She didn't necessarily leave by choice," Haynes said. "I'm not into airing dirty laundry and it's her story to tell."
Balgobin doesn't want to wade into the backstory.
"My heart has always been in Volusia County," she said. "I want to leave it at that."
Within weeks, the board terminated Fritz and set their sights on bringing Balgobin back.
They hired her at $245,000, a base salary higher than Fritz was getting, but her overall package of benefits costs taxpayers less than his.
About 62% of Volusia County Schools' 62,000-plus students are categorized as "economically disadvantaged," and more than one in five are Hispanic.
As an immigrant with limited English skills when she arrived in the United States, Balgobin can relate to many families, board members said.
"She cares about kids and their education, and she wants every child to have that opportunity. When she came to America, she got that opportunity," Haynes said. "She has a heart for every child."
Managing the pandemic
Balgobin got a trial by fire in 2020.
That January, she was hired as deputy superintendent of teaching, leading and learning, the district's No. 2 job, by the new Volusia County superintendent, Fritz. Balgobin arrived from Osceola County, where Fritz also had recently worked. Her first task was to help Fritz and the School Board develop a strategic plan.
By mid-March, the spread of COVID-19 had reached the pandemic level and Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran ordered all schools to close temporarily. By the end of March, Balgobin was leading the unprecedented effort to restart schools online, including providing 5,000 iPads to elementary school students.
That May, Fritz was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment shortly thereafter. And by July, Balgobin was named interim superintendent.
Board Chair Ruben Colón said the onset of the pandemic was "one of the most difficult times in education that we all faced." And Balgobin provided the leadership
"In my four years, it was the best time for superintendent relations I ever had. The communication was clear. It was concise. We worked together very well," Colón said.
Other board members concurred.
Haynes said she appreciated Balgobin making time to have weekly, one-on-one meetings with board members to keep them updated.
"There was not a blueprint for (the pandemic). We were all learning anew, and we were taking our direction from Dr. Balgobin," Carl Persis said. "That was very impressive. She's just a little fireball of energy and creativity. She's so smart. She's got her finger in everything and seems to know so much about all the departments."
Anita Burnette said Balgobin held people accountable, but also gave people a voice in decision-making.
"That was something that we were desperately in need of," Burnette said.
"My experience with her has been nothing short of fabulous," she said.
Balgobin also played a key role in the development of the district's strategic plan, consisting of a new mission statement — "Create life-long learners prepared for an ever-changing global society" — as well as five goals:
Engage all students in high levels of learning every day.
Recruit, retain and develop high-quality staff.
Provide a safe, healthy and supportive environment.
Ensure resources and operational processes are strategically aligned.
Strengthen communication and community engagement.
The plan was developed from an intensive process that involved each of the five board members leading a different component of the plan, with Balgobin being at the center of it all.
"She sat in on all of the components and she kept everybody focused and sometimes would ask some of the questions," Haynes said.
Board member Linda Cuthbert said she was impressed at the way Balgobin comfortably spoke with students, teachers and support staff, showed genuine curiosity and a desire to lend support where possible.
1st Latina superintendent?
Colón and Balgobin said they were told by the president of is the Florida Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents that she is the state's first Hispanic female superintendent.
Nationally, 25% of K-12 students are Hispanic. And Hispanics make up just 8% of teachers and 2% of executive leadership team members, according to Latinos For Education, a nonprofit advocating to close those gaps.
"The fact that she's been hired is a really big deal," said the organization's president, Daniel Velasco, of Jacksonville. "Children and teachers are going to see themselves represented in a space where education hasn't always worked for us. ... It's a little bit of light, or a beacon, for the community to see what they aspire to."
Velasco said he graduated from Seminole High School in Sanford in 2003, after having gone to public schools in Sanford his entire K-12 education and never once had a Latino teacher. That experience commonly leaves many Hispanic students without aspirations to become educators, he said.
Also, he said when a teaching force is diverse, not only do Black and Latino students perform more successfully in the classroom, white children do, too.
Lofty goals for Volusia schools
Balgobin doesn't shy away from setting lofty goals.
"If you’re asking me where I would like for us to be in the future, zero D schools. Zero F schools.
"Currently we have about 43% of our schools rated A or B. I would like to see that percentage much, much, much higher," she said. "And I would want us to be an A district because ... as a team, we’ve got the skillset here among our folks. And there’s that strong desire to be a successful district and I want us to rightfully assume that position. So in two years from now, that’s where I want us to be, for sure."
How she plans to get there starts in the primary grades, particularly kindergarten through third grade.
"It’s important ... that we have a very sound plan for our students in the primary grades. And what I mean by that is identifying those kids in the primary grades who are learning to read versus the students who are reading to learn," Balgobin said.
Students who have yet to achieve proficiency in reading should be served by a "specialized support plan," she said, adding "If they're doing well, their probability of success in the subsequent grade levels will be much higher."
Turning the morale tide
Her high expectations are rooted in her upbringing, and family remains her buoy. She shares a Volusia County condominium with her husband Tom Soli, principal at Riverview Learning Center. And she says her daughter, Usha Jadonath, a licensed mental health counselor, is her pride.
"Her husband Tom is absolutely the right person for her," Haynes said. "When she took the position (of interim superintendent) ... he was there to greet her when she got in really late at night and made sure she had a hot meal. That was a wonderful way for someone to be so supportive. That tells you what kind of heart he has."
Board members say Balgobin's hiring has already boosted morale at a district where many were predicting "no one would want to come."
And to Colón, Balgobin's hiring is inspiring.
"The thought that Volusia County will be the place for Dr. B, whose family has lived the American dream successfully, and that she's devoted to ensuring that for others," he said, "that's exciting."
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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New Volusia schools superintendent earned trust during COVID challenge
