Balaban is the principal of the middle school attended by Manny Delgado and Luke Dunphy.
In "Coal Digger", Manny and Luke end up in Principal Balaban's office after getting into a fight caused by Manny referring to Luke as his nephew and Luke calling Manny's mother Gloria Pritchett a coal digger. Gloria and her second husband - Manny's father-in-law - Jay Pritchett and Luke's parents Claire and Phil Dunphy are called and arrive in the office, but Balaban becomes confused when he finds out that all of them are related and Luke is actually technically Manny's nephew. He dismisses the family, telling them that the issue should be dealt with at home and that the children should get back to their classes.
In "My Funky Valentine", Phil and Claire, roleplaying as Clive Bixby and Julianna on Valentine's Day, meet Principal Balaban in a mall when Claire gets her coat stuck in an escalator and Phil turns it off. Along with Luke's math teacher Mrs. Passwater and one of Phil's clients Tom Mickleson, Balaban attempts to help Claire, not knowing that she is naked underneath the coat. Phil, however, soon convinced them to leave by lying that somebody is on their way to help.
