Fresno Unified Board Trustee Keshia Thomas is facing intensifying demands to resign after admitting she falsely accused a high school football coach of calling her son a racial slur.
Thomas, who has served on the board of California’s third-largest school district, made the accusation against Bullard High School Football Coach Don Arax during a 2022 podcast appearance. She claimed Arax used a racial slur against her son in 2013. Arax, who has denied the allegation throughout, filed a defamation lawsuit against Thomas the same year.
The pressure escalated after Thomas’ own son signed a sworn statement in July saying the coach never called him the slur and that he never told anyone that he did. However, the son reversed his position weeks later, claiming he had told his mother the coach used the slur and that he lied in his sworn statement.
Fresno Teacher Association President Manuel Bonilla has been vocal in demanding Thomas step down. “That public trust is gone, and she should resign and do the responsible thing,” Bonilla said.
The district, which has covered more than $350,000 in legal fees for Thomas, is now reconsidering that support. “FUSD agreed to help cover trustee Thomas’ legal fees at a time when we had no reason to question her account,” the district said in a statement. “Since then, new information has come to light. In her deposition, Thomas acknowledged that some of her earlier statements were not accurate, and her son made a similar acknowledgment in his own declaration.”
Thomas has issued a statement apologizing to Arax and his family. “At the time, I believed my son. As a mother, when my child told me something had occurred involving race, I took him seriously. As a school board member, I also believed I had a responsibility to take seriously anything that could affect whether students felt safe, respected and comfortable in their school environment. My concern was not only for my son, but for every child entrusted to our schools,” she said.
“I acted on what I believed to be true and from what I believed was an honorable responsibility to stand up for children and against injustice. I have now learned that the information I relied upon concerning Mr. Arax was not accurate,” she added.
But Thomas has pushed back against the FTA’s calls for her resignation, framing them as politically motivated. “FTA’s attempt to turn an act of accountability into a political demand for my resignation is irresponsible and distracting. It is also troubling coming from a labor organization whose movement is built on due process, fair representation and the right to be heard,” she wrote.
“I was elected by the people of my community, and attempts to circumvent their voice through political pressure are fundamentally undemocratic. I will not resign for acknowledging the truth and doing what I believe is right,” Thomas continued.
In the viral moment that sparked the legal battle, Thomas appeared on a podcast in 2022 and accused Arax of using a racial slur against her son nearly a decade earlier. The accusation spread quickly in the community, prompting Arax to file his defamation lawsuit seeking more than $10,000 in damages. Thomas initially stood by her claim, but later admissions in her deposition and her son’s conflicting sworn statements have undermined her account.
The case could be settled in mediation or head to trial in December.