After an extended closed door meeting among Fresno Unified trustees, including a discussion about a defamation lawsuit filed by former Bullard High football coach Don Arax against trustee Keshia Thomas, district leaders still have made no decision about how to proceed with Thomas or the lawsuit that could cost the district tens of millions of dollars.

Now, attorney Brian Whelan, representing Arax, has petitioned Fresno County Superior Court because he says the district has not cooperated with answering basic questions about whether it still believes Thomas’ accusations carry with them any truth.

“After four years of litigation and with trial approaching, FUSD should not be permitted to plead that this accusation is true while simultaneously refusing to say whether it has any evidence that it is true especially where Ms. Thomas maintains her statement was false,” Whelan said in his petition filed Wednesday.

Last month, news broke further questioning the truth of Thomas’ 2022 accusations against Arax that he had called her son the N-word. Doubts about the trustee’s truthfulness previously surfaced in her sworn deposition in 2025 denying that that she ever made the accusation. In July of this year, Whelan had kept quiet testimony by her son denying that he had ever told his mom that the coach used the racial slur in exchange for her dismissing any claims that her accusation against Arax had any truth.

Following that agreement, Thomas’ son sent a news release to media contradicting his sworn testimony and soon after, Thomas issued a public apology to Arax, putting the blame on her son for lying to her about the accusation.

Those legal developments led to an announcement in August from Board President Veva Islas to the media that trustees would discuss Thomas’ case, especially whether the district would continue to pay for her representation. The board, however, according to a spokesperson, did not make any decisions about the case in Wednesday’s closed session.

Now, Whelan says the district has not backed down from using truth as a defense, reaffirming Thomas’ claims despite contradictory testimony in 2025 and in July.

“Her son — the supposed victim — has sworn under oath that Arax never called him the that slur and that he never told Thomas otherwise,” Whelan wrote in his petition. “Thomas herself has publicly apologized to the media. Yet FUSD continues to assert truth as an affirmative defense maintaining that the false and defamatory statements made by Ms. Thomas were true.”

The Unanswered Questions

Whelan, according to his petition, said that the district has not responded to basic questions. Ahead of the scheduled December jury trial, Whelan reportedly asked the district the following questions, which GV Wire has summarized:

• Has FUSD received Thomas’ son’s declaration?
• Does FUSD have any evidence supporting Thomas’ accusation?
• Does the district still contend that Thomas’ defamatory statements are true?
• Has FUSD ever corrected or apologized for the accusation?

Whelan said that if the district still believes Thomas’ accusation against Arax to be true, then it should present evidence to the fact ahead of the jury trial, otherwise with Thomas’ 2025 deposition, her son’s July declaration, and her public apology, not answering the above questions wastes the court’s time.

The district responded to Whelan’s request for answers by calling it “absurd,” he told the court.

District Denies $10,000 Claim by Arax, Never Investigates: Nelson

The court case could cost the district millions of dollars if a jury finds Thomas and the district guilty of defamation. In a video deposition of former Superintendent Bob Nelson in 2025 acquired by GV Wire, Nelson told Whelan that he had denied Arax’s original claim of $10,000 in 2022 when it came before the court.

What’s more, Nelson told Whelan in that declaration that he was not aware of any investigation done by the district into the truth of Thomas’ live, on-air accusation that Arax used the N-word in a conversation with her son.

Now, the district has paid at least $650,000 in legal fees, according to statements made to GV Wire news partner FOX 26.

The board also has not censured Thomas. For comparison, the district at least twice censured former Bullard High trustee Terry Slatic, once when he used lengthy meeting time to ask questions of Nelson, and another time for behavior on school grounds, including grabbing a child.

The district reportedly spent $250,000 over three years to investigate accusations against Slatic.