Thomas introduced the motion that created a strategic long-range planning committee for Jefferson Parish schools, and she introduced the motion that created the first charter school in Louisiana. Thomas, a Republican, has been active in party politics as an elected member of the Republican Parish Executive Committee and the State Central Committee. She serves as Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana.

Polly Thomas, a graduate of USL with a Master’s and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M, worked as a speech therapist in Louisiana and Texas, and as a special education coordinator and educational diagnostician. She taught at Texas A&M and has been a faculty member and professor in UNO’s Department of Special Education for 30 years. She recently completed an appointment as Interim Associate Dean of UNO’s College of Education.

She has been an active community leader, first as a cabbage ball coach at St. Catherine of Siena where she served on the school board for 11 years. She serves on the East Jefferson Hospital Foundation Board, the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, and the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce Board. She has been a member of the Archbishop’s Community Appeal, the Charter Advisory Committee for Jefferson Parish, and is currently treasurer of the Metairie Woman’s Club. Thomas was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International, a Role Model by the YWCA, one of 40 outstanding woman business leaders and entrepreneurs in the metropolitan area, a 2004 Woman in Business Advocate awarded by the Small Business Administration, and one of 50 Women of the Year in 2005 by City Business. She actively advocated for levee board reform and assessor consolidation as a member of Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans.

Thomas, the author of two books, is 60 years old and married to Loyola University Interim Director of the School of Mass Communication Dr. Robert A. “Bob” Thomas. They have three children. Polly Thomas was a candidate for Senate in 2003 against then six-term incumbent Hollis, and finished with almost 40% of the vote.