What at stake:
After two decades of serving the community, she’s ready to complete the final chapter of her career to focus on her health and family
An educator who immigrated from Mexico more than 30 years ago – and subsequently made a positive impact on countless English-learning students and parents – is stepping down after decades of advocacy.
Karaoke, tacos and heartfelt stories were shared at a recent retirement party for Nora Ceballos at the Teague Center in west Fresno.
Dozens gathered to celebrate Ceballos, the program involvement coordinator at Central Unified School District. After two decades of serving the community, Ceballos said she’s ready to complete the final chapter of her career to focus on her health and family.
Ceballos’ impact at Central Unified was deep – she heavily advocated for the district to bring Spanish and Punjabi translators to every CUSD school and helped solidify the family liaison network at the district level. She also pushed the district to give more resources for unhoused students, foster youth and families with additional needs.
“I’m leaving the district with my head held high, knowing I made a difference in many people’s lives,” Ceballos said in Spanish. “ There wasn’t a day I said, ‘today I didn’t do anything important in someone’s life.’ Every day of the school year, I made a difference for someone.”
Ceballos was known as a “walking resource” for all parents, community members and district staff.
“I have seen time and time again Nora teaching us that true leadership means opening doors for those historically left outside the room,” said Naindeep Singh, executive director of Jakara Movement and trustee at CUSD.
“Her unwavering commitment to Central Unified’s students and families – especially our newer immigrants, whether from Mexico or Punjab or Yemen or anywhere in the world, and building, supporting, leading and honoring our family outreach liaisons’ vital work, embodies the principle that when we lift up the most marginalized, we lift everyone,” Singh said.
In a written statement, Central Unified Superintendent Mark Marshall said Ceballos’ retirement is a “celebration, but we will certainly miss [her] leadership, knowledge, and most importantly, her daily presence.”
“Nora was responsible for leading the work of our Family Outreach Liaisons. Nora’s team continues to be one of the most celebrated aspects of our school district. Subsequently, we are certainly grateful for Nora’s legacy and excited for the new adventures that await her.”
Ceballos’ early advocacy
Ceballos immigrated to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico with her husband and 5 year-old son in 1991. In Mexico, she studied to become an accountant – but always dreamed of becoming a teacher, but didn’t pursue it because it was a low-paying job.
When she and her family landed in California, they settled in Burbank for a few years. As her eldest son was enrolled at an elementary school, she began to learn English by reading newspapers and attending school board meetings.
Her first piece of advocacy came after she noticed students at her son’s school weren’t required to wear uniforms – whereas in Mexico, all students wore uniforms. Ceballos believed the district could benefit from requiring uniforms because it would promote equality among students regardless of socioeconomic status.
Ceballos took her proposal to the board, but was quickly dismissed.
“They told me there was no way it would happen in public schools,” Ceballos said.
She continued to advocate. A year later, the school board approved the proposal. To this day – the school is the only one in Burbank which requires students to wear uniforms.
Ceballos and her family moved to Fresno in 2005 after her husband secured an architecture job in the city. Emboldened by her advocacy in Burbank, Ceballos looked for a job in education. As she was still learning English, she looked for a role where she could practice the language and continue speaking Spanish.
She found a part time role at Biola Elementary at CUSD in the migrant education program. Ceballos conducted home visits with migrant families, helped families access resources, and helped transport children to and from school.
“There was so much need, I remember doing [home] visits until 8 or 9 p.m.” Ceballos said.
As she gained the trust from the community, Ceballos started asking parents why they wouldn’t participate in after school programs or attend board meetings.
“They told me, ‘it’s that they don’t treat us with respect here, they don’t treat us well,’” Ceballos said. “Parents told me, ‘they don’t speak Spanish, they make us sign papers that are all in English. We don’t understand them but we still sign them.’”
Immediately, Ceballos stepped in to translate documents from English to Spanish, connected parents to additional resources and personally drove undocumented families to doctors appointments.
Ceballos recounted a time when an undocumented mother approached her about taking her son to hospital because of tooth pain. The mother was afraid the doctors wouldn’t treat her son due to her status.
Ceballos said, “Let’s go right now, they are going to treat him.”
The road to family liaisons
As Ceballos’ work in the migrant program expanded, she realized she couldn’t handle all the work alone, especially on a part time basis. The district increased her hours and hired an additional translator to ease workflow.
Families of English learner students began approaching Ceballos for help with their needs, and she felt obligated to continue providing resources. Her supervisor allowed her to expand her work priorities to include English learner services.
Through this, she learned that some families required liaisons who spoke languages other than Spanish, like Hmong and Punjabi.
Slowly, Ceballos started to request family liaisons – one per each year. She was frustrated by the pace, thinking that she would retire not seeing liaisons at every school.
The real turning point came when parents began complaining about mistreatment at one of the school sites. Ceballos told the parents to go before the board to ask for more resources – and to ask for more liaisons.
“It was necessary that parents have someone to communicate with on a daily basis about what was happening at their school,” Ceballos said. “[The board] had to do it.”
In 2023, the CUSD board approved liaisons for each school site.
Ceballos considers the family liaison network as one of her biggest accomplishments, aside from seeing the growth from generations of students and families she was able to serve.
“I like to say that wherever you go, make sure to leave that place better than how you found it,” Ceballos said. “Having arrived [at CUSD] being the only [liaison] and now leaving with many…knowing that I fought with everything I had to help families. I left the foundation ready, and from there it depends on who’s in the seat next.”
