MaryEllen Elia

MaryEllen Elia officially declared residence in Florida on July 31st, 1986, before then she lived in Niagara Falls, NY and taught in Buffalo. While in New York she was a social studies teacher, according to her biography on the School Board website. Apparently to search records online for New York you have to pay a $50 quarterly subscription fee. So, I can't find her marriage license, employment records, etc. before she moved here. Bummer. She moved to accept a position as a "reading resource specialist" at Plant High School, and moved on to manage the county's magnet schools.

Her first home in Florida was at 4704 Brookwood Drive, Tampa, FL 33629. MaryEllen and her husband Albert Elia III acquired the deed for a property in Tampa Palms (Lot 35 unit 4-B) at the address 15832 Sanctuary Drive, Tampa, FL 33647 in 1990, this was back when Richard Ake was Clerk of Circuit Court in Hillsborough. Fun stuff, must make them feel old. I did not realize Tampa Palms was such an old community, though I bet they had to drive a ways to shop and such back then. Interestingly enough, with the finicky nature of records searches - if you search Mary Ellen Elia you get nothing - her name often appears as Mary Ellen Elia on official documents. The mortgage they acquired for that property was signed on June 8, 1990 and they paid $26,250 in taxes at a tangible tax rate of $35,000 - whatever that means, handwriting has definitely gotten better since the early 90s. That mortgage came from the California Federal Bank. On April 17, 1997 they took out a second mortgage - I'm 21, I'm just guessing based on records, please don't judge me on my limited knowledge of the world of residential acquisition and maintenance - from Barnett Bank on their Tampa Palms property. Their property taxes at this point were $22,750.

On August 23, 2004 they completed their California Federal Bank mortgage and signed the release - the bank had apparently been acquired by Citibank, because it now shares its name. On February 26, 2003 they paid off their second mortgage from Barnett Bank - also acquired by a larger bank, Bank of America. They paid $65,000 to finish off the agreement.

On January 17, 2008 they entered a new mortgage with Wells Fargo for a property at 3602 W Jetton Ave, Tampa, FL 33629. The cost of the mortgage was $247,469. They purchased this property in April of 2004 and sold the deed for their Tampa Palms residence on July 1, 2004. On February 6, 2009 MaryEllen entered another mortgage with Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union for $237,000 for the same property at 3602 W Jetton Ave. On February 24, 2009 she was released from the mortgage with Wells Fargo - still just Wells Fargo. This home is appraised at a value of $301,711 at a taxable value of $251,711 - this is because of an HX Exemption (homestead exemption) of $50,000. The home has two-stories, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Hillsborough had only the taxes she paid while living at the W Jetton Ave residence available when I went to visit. If I had told them her previous address - my fault on not enough prior research - I probably could have gotten her previous taxes. In any case her ad valorem taxes (according to value i.e. property) between 2004 and 2009 are as follows:2004-$6,904.48, 2005-$7,771.48, 2006-$7,729.96, 2007-$7,200.01, 2008-$6,802.67, 2009-$5,658.96 (incomplete). Every year she qualified for an HX Exemption of $25,000, in 2009 she qualified for an additional $25,000 HB exemption - not sure what that is, 25,000 senior citizen exemption is my guess.

She is married to Albert Elia III and has a daughter, Tara and a son, Albert IV. Both Tara and Albert III have a few traffic citations - it's irrelevant but shamelessly gossipy. In February of 2005, Tara got a moving violation, statute 316.0875 (2), which means she crossed a solid line to pass a slower car: "no driver shall at any time drive on the left side of the roadway with such no-passing zone or on the left side of any pavement striping designed to mark such no-passing zone...". In January 2007 she was caught by a "traffic control device" which according to the language of statute 316.074 sounds like a red-light camera. In April 2007, Tara left her car unattended with the engine running (316.1975-1). In September 2008, she was caught again by a traffic control device.

Albert Elia III entered traffic during a red light in March 2008 violating statute 316.075(1)C-1. In February 2009, for running a stop right according to statute 316.123(2)A. In April 2009 the family got its last citation so far was for "unlawful speed" by statue 316.183(2). The citation itself didn't contain these explanations, I used the Florida statue website to look up what each citation meant.

In September of 1990, MaryEllen and Albert were sued by Employer's Insurance of Wausau, a case that was dismissed. In 1994 they sued Terry Allerton, a resident of New York, for fees unpaid and won. I would speculate he purchased/rented their home in New York when they left, but I don't know for sure, the court papers are very vague. They were awarded $27,737, and it was modified because of typographical errors.

Her personnel records from the school board show that going back to 1986, as a social studies teacher, she has been evaluated by her peers as an "outstanding teacher". They also have cited her as being innovative as a teacher. In her personnel records she says she went to Rosary Hill College studying History and Education in 1970, In 1973 she was at the University of Buffalo studying social studies and in 1982 was at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Aha! Finally. I know a women's age is secret, but I finally found her birthday. MaryEllen Elia was born Nov. 10, 1948. She is also 5'5'' and weighs 140 lbs. Ok, that's too personal. Her maiden name is Swaitzenberg (her cursive handwriting and the date of 1986 make this quite difficult to read).

Also in here is her many state certifications to be an educator that cover her time in Florida. She also has almost never been evaluated poorly by her boss while teaching in Hillsborough.

Once she became Superintendent of Schools, she started to get negative evaluations - kind of. Her first year on record (2005-05), before the appearance of April Griffin (her main critic from the School Board), she was evaluated with all 5/5 and 4/5 across all categories: leadership, policy and governance, organizational management, communication, HR management, values and ethics, etc. However, in 2006-07 April Griffin appeared. Across everything I have read, she is the only person who has anything bad to say about Mrs. Elia, at least on record. In a sense of total cosmic irony, April Griffin is absolutely aware of this and curtly denied my request for an interview about MaryEllen Elia. Oh well.

Here's what April Griffin has to say about MaryEllen Elia on her evaluations by the School Board. Let's see if you can feel the venom coming across. For myself, at least, I will try not to imagine a very sexist cat-fight mentality.

2006-07 school year:
Griffin: "MaryEllen has displayed a pronounced tendency to conceive a plan with her closest advisors without adequate consultation of stakeholders and the Board. Once MaryEllen has developed a plan, she is rigid and unyielding in her vision as she 'develops consensus' and begins reaching out. Once MaryEllen has made a decision , she has been unyielding in her dealings with the Board, typically providing only a single recommendation that is based on her own preferences for Board approval... In today's transparent and collaborative workplace, leadership cannot be autocratic."

Griffin scored Elia a 1/5 for Leadership and District Culture with that response.

That pattern follows across categories until you get to 'instructional leadership' where Griffin rates her a 4/5 saying it is "one of MaryEllen's greatest strengths. Her understanding of curriculum and emerging educational philosophies has consistently earned top grades and state and national recognitions..."

Even her detractors can't help but admit that MaryEllen is a great superintendent. Griffin just seems to absolutely disagree with the "autocratic" nature that she wields her position, which is appointed by the School Board, who are themselves elected.

After that school year, Griffin's tone is remarkably more toned down. Maybe it takes getting used to MaryEllen, or she simply could not resist her personality. We cannot know.

I did get to interview Susan King, who worked under Mrs. Elia when she was the head of Magnet Schools. King is now the head of Magnet School for Hillsborough, Elia's old job. Though she did not get it directly from her.

"You never have to worry if you're doing bad or not," with Elia. She'll tell you, King said.

Despite what Griffin and Susan Vales, another critic on the board, say about Elia, King explained that "there's no animosity on the board, that's just their job to tell her what they think."

Elia is a very outspoken person, Susan said. So, Griffin's critique is probably merited. However, Elia is also a taskmaster.

She talks fast, moves fast, and has meetings for her staff as early as 6 a.m.

Ultimately, Elia has a singular vision according to King.

"I want you to treat these children as if their your own," King said, recalling Elia's vision for people working in education.

Documents:
Affidavit of Florida Residency
Civil Complaint against...
Judgment (2)
Modification of Judgment
Traffic Citation's
2005-2009 School Board evaluations
Mortgages (7)
Deeds (3)
Homeowners exemption tax record
Personnel records (57pgs)
Property Tax
Land use