DeLand, FL - Is Volusia County Schools looking to hire the district’s old deputy superintendent to take over the vacant superintendent’s seat? It sure looks that way.
According to the agenda for the school board’s upcoming meeting on Tuesday (May 10), the board is slated to discuss the appointment of former Deputy Superintendent Dr. Carmen Balgobin as the replacement for Dr. Scott Fritz.
Fritz first announced that he was not renewing his contract with the district in March. That was followed by a seemingly contentious conversation during a break at the April 12 meeting that led to his immediate termination.
“We had a conversation, we talked about it, and during the break Dr. Fritz made it very clear to me that he doesn’t want to be here by his actions,” said School Board Chair Ruben Colon following that closed door conversation.
Had the board not voted to terminate his contract immediately, he would have served until December.
Balgobin worked for the county previously as the deputy superintendent during Fritz’s tenure. In that time, Balgobin also served as the interim superintendent while Fritz took emergency leave for cancer treatment. She eventually left the position for a similar seat in Broward County as the deputy superintendent.
On the May 6 edition of Good Day Daytona, Mike Springer, a reporter with Channel 9 Eyewitness News and a contributor to WNDB, said the district began to gauge Balgobin’s interest in coming back to Volusia. Now they have to revisit the issue and decide whether or not they want to move forward with hiring Balgobin again.
That won’t be decided during the board’s upcoming meeting, as it will likely have to be discussed more before a decision is made. It’s additionally unclear how much Balgobin could make if she comes back.
Springer also said that the community has made it very clear in previous meetings that they want to be more involved in the selection process.
“There are others who don’t like how this process is playing out. They feel like there’s been a lack of community input too with the process,” said Springer.
As for right now, the district’s Human Resources Director Rachel Hazel will fill the role as the interim superintendent. In April, the board voted unanimously to raise Hazel’s pay from $107,833 a year to $205,000 a year—the same amount Fritz was making as superintendent.
