The Fresno Unified Board of Trustees appointed an additional member to the Fresno City Council School Liaison Subcommittee last week, causing two board members to raise concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest.

The city is reviving the rarely convened subcommittee, intending to meet more frequently. Fresno Unified, the largest local school district, decided to take the opportunity to fill their third seat.

Currently, Board Clerk Veva Islas and Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas are on the subcommittee.

The school board had the option to motion for an additional member or leave the size as is. Islas voiced the importance of not missing the opportunity to gain full representation.

The board appointed Keshia Thomas to the subcommittee in a 5-2 vote, motioned by Claudia Cazares and seconded by Jonasson Rosas.

Trustees Islas and Susan Wittrup gave the dissenting votes with Wittrup citing concerns about a possible conflict of interest from the dais.

Thomas did not return a call for comment.

“We have trustees on the committee that are not also running for city council,” Wittrup said during the meeting. “I think that with the campaigns going on, sometimes politics becomes the focus rather than our students. And we have a lot of work to do with the city.”

Thomas is running for the city council District 3 seat held by the termed-out Miguel Arias.

In addition, Jonasson Rosas unsuccessfully ran for the city council District 5 seat this spring in a special election and set up a new city council account for 2026. She also terminated her school board account last December.

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In conversation with GV Wire, Islas said she believed Thomas would do well but did not want the appointment to give rise to concerns over a possible conflict of interest.

It is important to her to keep everything above board and not to leave room for the public to lose trust in the board, Islas said.

Committee chair, Nelson Esparza, had no comment about the appointment, saying it was the board’s responsibility and choice.

She and Wittrup cast votes in favor of appointing Andy Levine, a motion that failed to pass in a 3-4 vote.

The School Liaison Subcommittee

The subcommittee includes three councilmembers — Esparza, Brandon Vang and Nick Richardson — and trustees from Fresno, Clovis, Central, and Sanger school districts.

The subcommittee is focused on improving infrastructure, student support, and safety.

Originally, it was intended to meet twice a year but got pushed to the wayside as other work piled up, Esparza said. Now, they are trying to get back on track and make time.

During the last meeting, subcommittee members discussed services for homeless students, traffic safety, and safe routes to schools.

The councilmembers are working to get the ball rolling on these issues in their respective departments, according to Esparza.

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The next meeting should be in fall or winter.

Building More Safe Routes to Schools

Fresno Unified trustees are hoping to configure a joint powers agreement. Currently, the city council has control over the subcommittee and trustees attend as guests.

“As they’re looking at their processes, we can engage in that process so that we’re also able to set the agenda, work on a shared schedule, collaborate a little bit more on how this committee will be run,” Jonasson Rosas said. “It might be an opportunity for us to engage in a process of building what the committee might be.”

The committee has not received any formal communications about this but is open to collaboration and input, Esparza said.

One potential advantage of this would be incorporating Fresno County in the subcommittee, Islas said.

The addition of county officials is seen as a potential major boost to creating safe routes to schools, a top priority for the school district.

There are Fresno Unified schools, such as Sunset Elementary School, that includes land along the border between the city and county. This causes disputes about who is responsible for infrastructure.

“Many parents want their children to walk to school but fear them being hit,” Islas said.