A School Board Member Threw Up a Nazi Salute. Then She Refused to Apologize.
In the final seconds of a public meeting on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, a member of the Deer Valley Unified School District governing board in north Phoenix raised her right arm in a Nazi salute and shouted “Heil! Heil!” at the board president — over a dispute about when to schedule a study session.
The board member is Kim Fisher (legal name Kimberly Kay Fisher). The board president is Paul Carver Jr., who had just moved to adjourn the meeting, citing a possible Open Meeting Law issue. The clash was over the date and time of an upcoming session on redrawing district attendance boundaries.
Fisher did not apologize. In a Facebook Live video afterward, she called Carver a “dictator,” said the board had operated “under virtually a dictatorship,” and explained: “All I could think of tonight was Hitler, so I said ‘heil,’ or whatever.” The gesture drew bipartisan condemnation — from the district, the local and state teachers’ unions, the Anti-Defamation League, and a fellow board member who called for an immediate censure.
- “Heil! Heil!”the words Fisher shouted while raising her arm at the board president — Arizona Mirror · AZFamily · May 2026
- May 26the date of the meeting where the salute occurred — 12 News (KPNX) · FOX 10 Phoenix
- Censurethe only remedy the board can impose; removal requires a voter recall — Board President Paul Carver Jr. · 12 News
- 2nddocumented violation — Fisher was found in violation of Arizona’s Open Meeting Law last year and already censured — Glendale Star · Arizona Mirror
A scheduling fight ended with a Nazi salute. It is on the meeting video.
The Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) serves north Phoenix and parts of Maricopa County, Arizona. At its May 26, 2026 governing board meeting, members were arguing over the date and time of an upcoming study session about redrawing the district’s attendance boundaries — a routine, if contentious, piece of school governance.
Board President Paul Carver Jr. moved to adjourn the meeting, citing a possible Open Meeting Law issue with how the scheduling question was being handled. As the board voted to adjourn, board member Kim Fisherraised her right arm in a Nazi salute and shouted “Heil! Heil!” at Carver. The moment was captured on the meeting’s video feed and quickly circulated across local Phoenix television stations.
A Deer Valley school board seat is a nonpartisan office; members run without a party label on the ballot. Fisher has previously run for partisan local office as a Republican, according to Ballotpedia. The fellow board member who called for her censure is Rep. Stephanie Simacek (D-Phoenix), who also serves in the Arizona House of Representatives. The condemnation, in other words, crossed party lines.
She went on Facebook Live and doubled down. No apology.
Rather than walk the gesture back, Fisher defended it. In a Facebook Live video posted after the meeting, she described Carver as a “dictator” and said the board had been operating “under virtually a dictatorship.” She tied the salute directly to that framing, telling viewers that the comparison to Hitler was what she had been thinking the entire meeting.
“All I could think of tonight was Hitler, so I said 'heil,' or whatever. I am so tired of this.”
Kim Fisher, DVUSD board member · Facebook Live (via KTAR / AZFamily)
Fisher offered no apology in the video or in the days that followed. Her explanation — that the salute was an expression of frustration with how the board president ran the meeting — did not satisfy any of the officials and organizations who weighed in. As the Anti-Defamation League would put it, the question of intent did not change the effect.
Carver, for his part, rejected the characterization and the conduct. He said the response was unacceptable for anyone — and especially for an elected official charged with overseeing a public school district.
“That response is wholly and completely unacceptable at any level, especially from an elected official.”
Paul Carver Jr., DVUSD board president · 12 News / FOX 10 Phoenix
The district, two teachers’ unions, the ADL, and a fellow board member all condemned it. The calls to resign were immediate.
The Deer Valley Unified School District issued a statement saying it “does not condone, support, or endorse gestures or language associated with hate.” The Deer Valley Education Association, the district’s local teachers’ union, said it was “horrified and disgusted,” called Fisher “unfit for public service,” and said she should resign. The Arizona Education Association, the statewide union, called the salute “despicable.”
The Anti-Defamation League’s Arizona/Desert chapter condemned the gesture in unequivocal terms, stressing that the impact on the community did not depend on what Fisher intended by it.
“We unequivocally condemn this behavior that glorifies Nazis and Hitler. Regardless of intent, these actions instill fear in the community.”
Anti-Defamation League, Arizona/Desert chapter
Fellow DVUSD board member Rep. Stephanie Simacek (D-Phoenix)— who also serves in the Arizona House of Representatives — called for “an immediate censure” of Fisher. Carver echoed that the conduct was unacceptable from an elected official.
An Arizona school board member is facing calls to resign after making a Nazi salute during a meeting. The Deer Valley Unified board member raised her arm and shouted 'heil' at the board president.
We demand accountability for Deer Valley Unified board member Kimberly Fisher's despicable Nazi salute. Such conduct has no place in public service or in our schools.
The board can censure her. It cannot remove her. Only the voters can.
The calls for resignation collided with a hard legal limit. Under Arizona law, a school board cannot remove or otherwise discipline one of its own elected members beyond a formal censure — a public rebuke that carries no power to strip the member of her seat or her vote. Removing an elected board member requires a voter recall.
Carver made the constraint explicit: the board, he said, does not have the ability to discipline its own members. A censure is the strongest action available to it. Unless Fisher resigns voluntarily — which she has shown no sign of doing — the only remaining path to removing her from office runs through a recall election initiated by voters in the district.
- →The board CAN issue a formal censure — a public rebuke with no power to remove or strip a vote.
- →The board CANNOT remove or discipline a fellow elected member beyond censure under Arizona law.
- →Removal of an elected board member requires a voter recall.
- →Resignation would be voluntary; Fisher has not apologized or signaled she will step down.
- →Board President Paul Carver Jr.: 'The board do not have the ability to discipline board members.'
This was not her first violation. She had already been censured once.
The salute did not come out of nowhere. Fisher already had a documented record of conflict on the board. Last year, she was found in violation of Arizona’s Open Meeting Law and was censured by the board — the same limited remedy now being invoked again.
That history is part of why Carver moved to adjourn the May 26 meeting over a possible Open Meeting Law concern in the first place — and why the call for “an immediate censure” from Simacek lands against a backdrop of prior friction rather than a single isolated outburst. A second censure, if the board issues one, would again leave Fisher in her seat.
An elected official made a Nazi salute on camera and would not take it back. The accountability gap is the story.
The facts are not in dispute, because they are on video. A sitting member of a public school board raised her arm in a Nazi salute and shouted “Heil!” at the board president during a meeting about scheduling. She then went online and defended it rather than apologize, comparing the board president to Hitler and calling the body a “dictatorship.”
What followed was rare in its breadth: the district, the local teachers’ union, the statewide teachers’ union, the Anti-Defamation League, the board president, and a fellow board member all condemned the gesture and, in several cases, called for her to resign. The condemnation crossed party lines — the seat is nonpartisan, and the censure call came from a Democrat.
And yet the institution she serves on cannot remove her. Arizona law leaves the board with censure as its only tool — a tool already used against Fisher once before. Short of a voluntary resignation she has refused to offer, the only mechanism that can hold her accountable is a recall election run by the voters who elected her. That gap, between near-universal condemnation and the narrow remedies available, is the durable lesson of the episode.
