Judge denies trustee’s request for protection against Jackson school board president

JACKSON, MI – A request for a personal protection order filed by a Jackson School Board trustee against the board president has been denied.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain on Thursday, Oct. 24, denied issuing the order filed by Trustee Kesha Hamilton against outgoing Board President Pamela Fitzgerald.

The ruling came after McBain heard arguments from Hamilton claiming she was regularly harassed and felt threatened by Fitzgerald during board meetings. McBain found Hamilton’s request did not meet the criteria for the issuance of a court order.

“The two of you were trusted (with) a responsibility. You were elected to that position and have a statutory responsibility to aggressively and zealously argue issues that might not always be in agreement with the other party. But at the same time, I just don’t think that this rises to the level where I should issue a PPO,” McBain said.

McBain instead ordered the two find a third-party person to sit in on board closed sessions as a witness and to help keep the peace.

Hamilton, 43, said she was satisfied with McBain’s decision, saying she felt most threatened during meeting closed sessions, which are not open to public viewing.

“I was not seeking for (Fitzgerald) to be particularly inconvenienced, but I was seeking my protection and I had no other recourse and had to let the court decide,” Hamilton said.

Fitzgerald, 72, is finishing her last board term, which ends Dec. 31, after serving 12 years.

“It has been a wonderful experience serving on the board but it makes me very, very sad that this has been such a distraction at the end of what I have had as a wonderful life at JPS,” Fitzgerald said.

Despite Fitzgerald’s age, Hamilton said she believed she needed to be protected as she thought she would be to blame if there was ever a physical confrontation between the two.

“I don’t want to have to defend myself against a 72-year-old woman,” Hamilton said. “Her attacking me or touching me or physically harming me would require me to defend myself and the narrative that would come out from that would not be that I was protecting myself against a 72-year-old woman, it would be that I am attacking a 72-year-old woman. I want to avoid that type of scenario all together,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton filed the request Sept. 18, claiming she needed protection from the court after experiencing harassment and hostility from Fitzgerald during school board meetings.

She spoke of one closed session in November 2023 when Fitzgerald allegedly got close to her, was insulting, hostile and refused to leave her alone, blocking her from exiting the meeting.

Not hearing of a sense of imminent danger, McBain denied granting the initial request and instead ordered Thursday’s hearing to hear from both parties.

“A PPO is set up for people who are in immediate threat of harm. They are not set up for a continued argument regarding political differences,” Jamie White, Fitzgerald’s attorney, said during the hearing.

The Jackson School Board has been embroiled in several controversies involving Hamilton since she first took office in 2021.

In February 2022, the board agreed to hire a third-party investigator to look into Hamilton’s claims that she felt threatened by Superintendent Jeff Beal and then board member Erin White after a January meeting.

Hamilton’s 2023 social media comments describing “whiteness” as evil received considerable media attention and led to a contentious discussion during public comment at a subsequent board meeting.

Hamilton, who is Black, later provided additional context to her social media comments, saying she used a description provided by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which describes whiteness or “white racialized identity” as referring to “the way that white people, their customs, culture and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of are compared.”

The board faced controversy again after Hamilton was mistakenly sent an insulting text from Superintendent Jeff Beal. Beal was later reprimanded for his actions.

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