A Conversation with Hillsborough County Superintendent MaryEllen Elia

Recently I spent a delightful afternoon with MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent of the Hillsborough County Public Schools here in the Tampa Bay area, since July 1, 2005, discussing her partnership with her seven-member Board of Education. With over 191,000 students and almost 26,000 full-time, permanent employees, Hillsborough is one of the country’s 10 largest school districts. MaryEllen draws on a deep reservoir of educational experience in carrying out her CEO responsibilities: 17 years in the classroom as a social studies teacher; service as a high school reading resource specialist; magnet school supervisor; director of non-traditional programs; general director of secondary education; and chief facilities officer. In this and my next column I share highlights of our discussion.

Doug: Are you guided by a particular philosophy, MaryEllen, in your work with the Board of Education?

MaryEllen: Indeed I am, Doug. In the first place, I consider the governing function – including my working partnership with the Board – one of my preeminent chief executive priorities, not far down on the list from our fundamental reason for being as a school district: student achievement itself. As any experienced superintendent well knows, school boards make the strategic and policy decisions, including the allocation of precious dollars, that ultimately go a long way in determining how fully we carry out our educational mission, so the governing work of my Board must be a top concern of mine. That said, three tenets guide my day-to-day interactions with the Board of Education here in Hillsborough. First, I am totally committed to my board’s realizing – fully – its tremendous potential as the District’s governing body. In practice, this means I want a strong Board of Education that is far more than the traditional passive-reactive governing body that merely digests finished staff work and responds. The Board and I are in complete agreement that they should be actively involved in shaping major decisions, not just reacting to – and blessing – staff recommendations. Second, I believe that governing really is a team “sport,” requiring that my Board and I, along with my top lieutenants, function as a cohesive governing team. Over the years I’ve seen superintendents keep arms-length distance from their boards, guarding what they see as executive prerogatives from board “micromanagement,” and, even worse, I’ve seen superintendents who treat their boards as adversaries, rather than partners. Well, we don’t do it that way here in Hillsborough. And third, I believe that one of my most important jobs as CEO of the District is to help my Board become a more effective governing body. It’s not an option to just sit back and complain about their leadership; I’m accountable for aggressively helping them take their leadership to the next level. Of course, that’s an ongoing process, and I’ve signed on to do it. By the way, I think I’m blessed with an excellent Board that’s made up of dedicated, hard working members who take their responsibilities seriously. But I’m a great believer in continuous improvement – in the classroom, in our administrative offices, and in the boardroom as well.

Doug: I’m impressed by your commitment to both effective governing and collaboration with your Board, MaryEllen. You’ve said your Board is doing a good job. What do you see as its greatest strengths as a governing body?

MaryEllen: Two strengths really stand out, Doug. For one thing, the members of my Board have become highly visible and effective spokespeople and good-will ambassadors for the District in recent years, explaining complex issues – for example, the financial pressures we’re under in today’s challenging economy and steps we’re taking to keep the District on an even keel fiscally speaking – and answering questions about various aspects of District operations. Several Board members meet regularly with formal and informal advisory groups, and these meetings have proved to be a powerful tool for both becoming more familiar with people’s concerns and educating the general public. By the way, we don’t run a formal Board speaker’s bureau, something I know you’ve recommended in a couple of your books, but we do take very seriously – and support – our Board members’ ambassadorial role.

Another real strength of the Board is its commitment to getting up to speed on complex issues, such as drawing boundaries and facility planning. We have a tradition of holding two to four-hour workshops every couple of weeks, involving the Board, myself and my assistant superintendents, to address particular issues. We get the facts out on the table, and we spend the time necessary to make sure we understand every facet of the question we’re focusing on in a particular workshop.

Doug: Before we talk more about the Board-Superintendent partnership in Hillsborough, tell me a bit about your selection as CEO of the District back in the summer of 2005.

MaryEllen: You know, Doug, I never plotted out a career in educational administration that had me reaching the top spot at some point in my climb up the ladder. I guess you’d call my professional development strategy “creative opportunism.” I loved being a classroom teacher and relished tackling increasingly demanding administrative challenges that came my way when I relocated from upstate New York to Tampa and the Hillsborough County Schools. I was the District’s Chief Facilities Officer, reporting to the superintendent (my predecessor), when he announced his retirement. Until that point, I honestly hadn’t given a minute’s thought to being superintendent. But, as the Board geared up for a national search, I said to myself: “I’m ready for this job – it’s the natural next step – so why not throw my hat in the ring?”

Doug: So why do you think you were the Board’s ultimate choice, MaryEllen?

MaryEllen: Well, you’d have to interview the Board members who made the decision to be sure, but here’s my take on it. I’d worked with the Board pretty intensively for a number of years in my capacity as top administrator for secondary education in the District and especially when I took over the facilities portfolio, so they knew me well, and I think the fact that I obviously believed in strong Board leadership and in working in close partnership with the Board was a strong argument in my favor. Also, I was viewed as a very plain-spoken administrator who would always “tell it like it is,” and I was always willing to challenge the conventional wisdom. Without question, I wasn’t wedded to past practices, and I think Board members liked that, when they reflected on a world continuously changing in so many ways.

Doug: You’ve given me the impression of a very positive and productive working partnership with your Board, MaryEllen. What are some practical things you do to keep this partnership healthy?

MaryEllen: I’ve already said that the governing function is one of my top CEO priorities, so I really do pay considerable attention to keeping my working relationship with my Board of Education close and positive. Experience has taught me that a solid relationship must be based on mutual respect, and I’m sure that the attitude I bring to my work with the Board makes a real difference in terms of building a cohesive Board-Superintendent team. I’m what you’d call a board-friendly superintendent; I believe in strong board leadership, and my Board knows it. That’s an indispensable foundation for any partnership. You also need to know that I commit substantial time to working with my Board – at least a full day on the average every week, if not more. A good deal of that time is spent creatively thinking about ways I can engage my Board members that make full use of all of the talent, experience, expertise, and community contacts that they bring with them to the boardroom.

You, know, Doug, the personal dimension of building and maintaining a solid working relationship with the Board is critical, so I make a point of meeting one-on-one with each member of my Board on a bi-weekly basis. This is by far the most effective way for me to get to know my Board members: their special concerns; their aspirations as members of the District’s governing body; their decision-making styles; the way they acquire and process information (for example, do they want detailed written reports?) – and more. Governing is a people-intensive process, as well as a team endeavor, and the better my Board members and I know each other, the more likely we are to work well together on the governing front.

There are many other practical things my top executives and I faithfully do to keep the partnership with the Board healthy. For example, we make a real effort to ensure that Board members are never caught off-guard, put on the defensive, or embarrassed because they’re not in the know on a breaking issue. It’s our job to make sure they’re always in the know on the biggies. We also look for every opportunity to engage Board members proactively (which to me just means early in the process, rather than at the tail-end) in addressing strategic and policy-level matters. A recent example comes to mind. For the past several months, the District has been going through a wide-ranging update of policies in every functional area. I’ve made sure that Board members are involved intensively – from the get-go – in examining those policies related to Board and Superintendent roles, responsibilities, and interaction. Another thing we do is make sure that Board members are made aware of events in the District and the wider community that they might want to participate in, and we facilitate that participation, with the help of three full-time secretaries whose time is dedicated to supporting our seven Board members.

Doug: You obviously pay close attention to your working relationship with the Board. What about your Board Chair?

MaryEllen: To me, Doug, this is a primo relationship and top priority, not only because my Board Chair can be a powerful advocate for actions I’m taking to the Board, but also because there’s real potential for stepping on each other’s toes if we’re not careful. This is especially true in the external arena, since we’re both considered spokespeople for the District. I make three promises to every new Board Chair: (1) I want you to succeed as leader of the Board, and I’ll do anything within reason to help you do so. (2) I’ll get to know you well enough to understand your special interests and aspirations as Board Chair – what you’re most interested in getting involved in and the goals you hope to achieve – and I’ll do what I can to get you involved in these areas and to help you achieve your goals. (3) And I’ll always defer to you in public when we’re out in the community together; no one will doubt that you’re the District’s primary spokesperson.

To the best of my – and my staff’s – ability, we deliver on these three promises. For example, we have a custom of involving the Board Chair in monthly meetings with myself and my top executives, at which we develop the detailed Board meeting agenda, so our Board Chair is always in the driver’s seat at Board meetings – intimately familiar with the items on the agenda and able to lead discussion. When I have a Board Chair who’s really interested in getting involved in an area, say, community economic development, I’ll go out of my way to facilitate that involvement, including seeing that my Chair is invited to key meetings. And when we’re attending meetings together, I make a point of treating my Board Chair as the District’s primary representative and spokesperson. I never, ever upstage my Chair; she or he is always the center of attention out in the community.

Doug: Over the years, MaryEllen, I’ve come across a number of superintendents who tend to guard their staff from much contact with their board members. Where do you come down on this question?

MaryEllen: That’s easy to answer, Doug. I’m definitely not an old-time bottleneck CEO who jealously guards my top lieutenants from interacting with my Board members. On the contrary, my top executives are encouraged to answer Board members’ questions, and to meet one-on-one with Board members to brief them on issues. I’ve mentioned the two to four-hour Board workshops we regularly hold to examine into complex issues; my senior executives always attend, and they actively participate in discussion with the Board. You’d never see my executives sitting on the sidelines in these meetings; they’re always in the thick of the discussion. In a large, incredibly complex educational enterprise like the Hillsborough County Schools, any other approach would be counterproductive. As I said at the beginning of our discussion, I really do believe that governing is a team effort, and the team always includes my senior executives.

This article appeared in the April 2009 and May 2009 issues of American School.