FRESNO, CA (KMJ)\u00a0 The first day of the school year at Fresno Unified is beginning with a bang.<\/p>\n
The Fresno Teachers Association is calling for FUSD Trustee Keshia Thomas to resign in the wake of a racism scandal \u2013 that should\u2019ve never been.<\/p>\n
Thomas had accused former Bullard football coach Don Arax of calling her son a racist slur.\u00a0 Turns out, it wasn\u2019t true.\u00a0\u00a0Her son recently recanted the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic service requires trust, and Trustee Thomas has lost that trust,\u201d FTA President Manuel Bonilla said. \u201cAfter four years of defending a case that began with a serious accusation against a Fresno Unified employee, she has now permanently given up the defense that her statements were true.\u00a0 The community should not be expected to simply move on as if nothing has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas, who is currently running for Fresno City Council, has not responded to demands she step down.<\/p>\n
The Fresno Unified Board stopped paying for Thomas\u2019s legal fees and will not cover any judgment against her.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Arax filed a defamation suit to clear his name, seeking financial compensation for \u201cmassive reputational harm\u201d which Thomas\u2019 attorney claims could reach upwards of $20 million.<\/p>\n
Thomas has dropped her legal defenses\u2014including her argument that the statement was \u201cprivileged and defensible as true\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is bigger than one legal defense or one court filing,\u201d Bonilla said. \u201cA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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