Polk County Public Schools
The school board elected Frank O’Reilly, district 1, as school board chairman and Tim Harris, district 7, as school board vice chairman at its November 18 meeting. The following are profiles of Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Harris.
Frank O'Reilly is serving his third four-year term on the School Board and is currently the Chairman of the Board. He also served as Chairman from November 2002 to November 2003.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Mr. O'Reilly earned a B.S. Degree in Accounting from St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. Mr. O'Reilly is retired from Merrill Lynch and has previously served as the Mayor of the City of Lakeland and a Lakeland City Commissioner.
Mr. O'Reilly currently serves on the Polk County Value Adjustment Board and the Florida High School Athletic Association Section 3 Appeals Committee. He is also active in the American Heart Association, Volunteers in Service to the Elderly, and serves on the School Advisory Councils at Southwest Elementary School and Doris Sanders Learning Center.
His term expires November 17, 2012.
Tim Harris began his service on the School Board in 2006. He is a native of Greenville, SC, moving to Polk County in 1972 to attend college. He holds a BA in Secondary Education and History from Southeastern University (1975) and a Master’s Degree in teaching Social Studies from Rollins College (1978).
Tim is currently the Operations Manager and majority owner of Sign PostMan, LLC. Sign PostMan builds, rents, and installs sign posts, as well as storing sign panels for the real estate industry. In addition, Tim is a partner in the real estate investment firm, The Gaylord Group, LLC.
Previously, Tim taught in Polk public schools from 1975 until 1994, working afterwards as a contract administrator and teacher resource specialist. From 1998 - 2006 Tim designed and coordinated annual follow-up surveys of Polk County graduates.
He is a member of the Lakeland Chamber’s Leadership Lakeland Class XXVI. Tim currently serves on the Board of Directors of MIDFLORIDA Federal Credit Union and the Associated Marine Institute (AMI) – Lakeland. He is also a member of the Kiwanis Club of Lakeland and the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce. Tim previously served on the boards of Lakeland Regional Medical Center and the Polk Education Foundation.
Tim also has experience in dealing with growth issues as a result of his many years of residential property management and service on local planning and zoning boards, as well as his experience both the academic and career (vocational) education arenas.
His term expires November 15, 2010.