Fresno Unified Trustee Apologizes for False Racism Claim, Rejects Union’s Call to Resign

Keshia Thomas, the elected Fresno Unified trustee representing the Edison region, issued a public apology Monday to Don Arax, a former Bullard High School football coach she had accused of using a racial slur against her son. The apology came one day after the Fresno Teachers Association called for her resignation, saying the community can no longer trust her judgment.

Thomas alleged on a 2022 podcast that Arax had called her son the N-word during a 2013 football camp. Arax was removed from his coaching position and filed a defamation lawsuit against Thomas and Fresno Unified. Last week, Thomas withdrew her legal defense that the accusation was true.

“Mr. Arax, I sincerely apologize to you and your family,” Thomas wrote in her statement. “I believed the information I had at the time, but I have since learned that the information I relied upon was not accurate. Had I known then what I know today, I would not have made those statements.”

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Her son, Albert Alford Jr., now an adult, told The Fresno Bee last week that he had not been truthful with his mother about the 2013 incident. In a sworn July court declaration, Alford stated he never told anyone — including his mother — that Arax used a racial slur.

The contradiction surfaces a troubling pattern: a son’s account changed twice, and a mother’s public accusation cost a coach his position and triggered years of litigation — all before the truth came out.

Arax’s attorney, Brian Whelan, rejected the apology. “This is not an apology. It is the latest version of a story that finally ran out of places to go,” Whelan said. “She shifts responsibility to her own son, whose sworn declaration directly contradicts what she testified he told her. That is not contrition. It is public relations.”

Thomas defended her decision to resign neither from the school board nor from her current campaign for Fresno City Council District 3. In a statement sent only to ABC30, she called the teachers’ union’s demand “irresponsible and distracting,” adding, “I was elected by the people of my community, and attempts to circumvent their voice through political pressure are fundamentally undemocratic.”

Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla said the issue goes beyond the lawsuit itself. “A trustee made a serious public accusation about a district employee. Four years later, the factual foundation of that accusation is being challenged, conflicting accounts have emerged, and Trustee Thomas has abandoned the defense that her statements were true. The question now is whether the community can still trust her judgment. We do not believe it can.”

The Fresno Unified board has paid $235,330 in legal fees defending the district and an additional $134,421 defending Thomas, through June 9. The board will reconsider whether to continue covering Thomas’ legal costs, and has not indemnified her — meaning if she is found liable for damages, she would pay them herself.

Fresno Unified filed a motion to be dismissed from the suit, which will be heard October 7. A trial is scheduled to begin December 7. Mediation is scheduled for August 31. Arax’s lawsuit seeks damages for “massive reputational harm,” which Thomas’ attorney has estimated could reach $20 million.

The Breakdown

• Keshia Thomas, an elected Fresno Unified trustee, publicly accused former Bullard coach Don Arax of using a racial slur against her son in a 2022 podcast.
• Arax was removed from his position and sued Thomas and Fresno Unified for defamation.
• Last week, Thomas withdrew her defense that the statement was true, after her son recanted the story in a sworn court declaration.
• The Fresno Teachers Association called for Thomas to resign from the school board and drop her Fresno City Council campaign, citing a loss of public trust.
• Thomas apologized to Arax but refused to resign, calling the demand “fundamentally undemocratic.”
• Fresno Unified has spent $369,751 on legal fees related to the case and will reconsider funding Thomas’ defense going forward.

What This Means for You

This story is about whether a person who made a public accusation that turned out to be false — and defended it in court for years — can still be trusted to serve in elected office. Keshia Thomas is the sitting trustee for Fresno Unified’s Edison region and is running as a candidate for Fresno City Council District 3. The teachers’ union that represents the district’s educators says she has lost the community’s trust. Thomas says she was elected by voters and won’t be pressured to step aside.

The question before you is not whether a parent should believe their child or whether an apology is enough. It’s whether the judgment and accountability Thomas showed in this case — making a career-ending accusation, defending it publicly for years, then withdrawing that defense only after her son contradicted himself in sworn testimony — meets the standard you expect from someone making decisions on your child’s education or your city’s policies.

Fresno Unified’s board is also accountable to you: they spent nearly $370,000 in public funds on this case and are now reconsidering whether to keep paying. You have a right to know what that money defended and why the board supported it this long.

What to Watch

The trial is set for December 7. Mediation is scheduled for August 31. Beyond the trial, watch what the Fresno Unified board does next. Spending $370,000 to defend a trustee’s public accusation was a judgment call the board made. Now that the accusation has been withdrawn, the board says it will reconsider. That reconsideration is itself an accountability moment.

Did the board ask the right questions before committing public funds? Did it have reason to doubt Thomas’ account earlier than it’s now letting on? And what does “reconsider” actually mean — will the board demand repayment, or simply stop paying forward?

The teachers’ union is asking for more than Thomas’ resignation. It wants transparency on what the district knew and when, and what this case has cost beyond the dollar figure already disclosed. Those are the right questions. A trustee’s credibility failing is one problem. A board that funded that credibility — with your money — for years before the story fell apart is another.