Arizona School Board Member Faces Backlash After Nazi Salute Gesture at Meeting

On the evening of May 26, 2026, a routine Deer Valley Unified School District governing board meeting in north Phoenix ended with board member Kimberly Fisher raising her right arm in a stiff-armed salute and saying "Heil, heil" — a gesture immediately recognized by those present as the Nazi "Sieg Heil" salute [1][2]. The moment, captured on the meeting's public video stream, has since drawn condemnation from Jewish organizations, the district's teachers union, and elected officials, while raising questions about the limits of political speech, the adequacy of school board conduct standards, and the legal options available when an elected official crosses a line that most observers consider uncrossable.

What Happened

The incident occurred during the final minutes of the board's regular Tuesday meeting. Board members were debating the scheduling of a community study session related to proposed school boundary changes — a contentious issue in a district that has seen enrollment decline by 13% since 2019 [3]. Fisher objected to holding the session at 4:30 p.m., arguing that parents, teachers, and community members would be unable to attend at that hour. Board President Paul Carver Jr. moved to adjourn the meeting and end the discussion [1][2].

It was at that point that Fisher raised her arm and said "Heil, heil" in Carver's direction [2][4]. Video footage from the meeting shows the gesture clearly: Fisher's right arm extended upward in the manner associated with the Nazi party salute, accompanied by the verbal invocation [5]. There is no ambiguity in the footage about the physical gesture itself. The dispute is over intent and meaning.

Fisher's Defense

Fisher did not apologize. In a Facebook Live video posted shortly after the meeting, she doubled down on her criticism of Carver, saying: "The Legislature does not need some little dictator with some Napoleon complex or whatever" [6]. She went further: "All I could think of tonight was Hitler, so I said 'heil' or whatever. I am so tired of this. I have dedicated over a decade of my life for this" [1][2].

Fisher's argument, in essence, is that the salute was satirical — a way of comparing Carver's leadership style to authoritarian rule. In the same livestream, she also compared Carver to Pol Pot [7]. Her framing positions the gesture as political hyperbole directed at a colleague she views as overstepping his authority, not as an endorsement of Nazi ideology.

A Pattern of Conflict

The salute did not emerge from a vacuum. Fisher has a documented history of conflict with the Deer Valley board. She was previously found in violation of Arizona's Open Meeting Law by Attorney General Kris Mayes' office after she shared confidential information from an executive session with a member of the public [8][9]. According to a letter from the AG's office, a recording captured Fisher acknowledging the disclosure: "Well, he shouldn't have shared that with you, it was in executive session, but since you are already aware..." [8].

The board had already censured Fisher once before the Nazi salute incident [1][8]. Fellow board member and state Rep. Stephanie Simacek (D-Phoenix) said that "what the board has seen from Fisher over the past four years is unacceptable" and that the salute was "just the latest example of Fisher's inappropriate actions as a governing board member" [1].

The underlying policy dispute — school boundary changes driven by the district's declining enrollment — has itself been a source of tension. Enrollment in the district stood at 30,465 students in fall 2025, down about 920 students (3%) from the previous year [3]. A recommended set of boundary changes failed at the board's March 10 meeting on a 2-2 vote with one abstention, leaving the issue unresolved and the community divided [3].

The Backlash

Condemnation was swift and came from multiple directions.

The Deer Valley Education Association, the district's teachers union, called the gesture "horrifying and disgusting" and described it as "an appalling endorsement of an ideology that was responsible for the murder of six million Jews." The union stated plainly: "Any leader who uses a Nazi salute during a School Board meeting is unfit for public service" [2][4].

The Arizona Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, called Fisher's behavior "despicable" and told her to resign [7].

ADL Desert, the regional office of the Anti-Defamation League, issued a statement saying it "unequivocally condemn[s] this behavior that glorifies Nazis and Hitler. Regardless of intent, these actions instill fear in the community and are unbecoming of officials entrusted with educating children" [1].

The Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix stated that "Nazi language and symbolism is offensive and harmful," noting that "such references carry the weight of the Holocaust and their invocation in any public setting reignites the real horrors committed by Nazi Germany, and causes direct harm to the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, and other minority groups" [1].

Board President Carver said the district had received "a flood of emails from members of Jewish communities around the world expressing concern and outrage" [1][4]. He added: "An idea there's certain things you don't do, and you don't do that" [5].

State Rep. Simacek called for the board to "immediately censure" Fisher and said she "needs to resign," adding: "It was a deliberate invocation of one of the most evil ideologies in human history on display in a building where our children come to learn" [2][6]. She said: "What happened in that room was not a joke... This is what hatred looks like when it finds a seat at the table" [6].

The district itself issued a statement: "DVUSD remains committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all students, staff, families, and community members" and said it "does not condone, support, or endorse gestures or language associated with hate, discrimination, intimidation or violence in any form" [6][7].

What Arizona Law Actually Allows

Here is where the situation becomes legally constrained. Board President Carver acknowledged the reality directly: "I need the community to understand that in the state of Arizona, the school district and the board do not have the ability to discipline board members" [2][4].

Arizona school board members are elected officials. Under the Arizona Constitution and Arizona Revised Statutes Title 19, every public officer holding an elective office is subject to recall by qualified electors, but the process is demanding [10][11]. A recall petition cannot be filed until the official has served at least six months of their current term. Petitioners must gather signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last election for that office, and they have 120 days to do so [10]. If sufficient valid signatures are collected, a recall election is held.

Censure — a formal statement of disapproval — is a less drastic option and one that has already been used against Fisher [1][8]. But censure carries no binding consequence. It does not remove the member from office or strip any voting power. It is, in effect, a public rebuke on the record.

There is no mechanism under Arizona law for a school board to unilaterally remove one of its own elected members. Short of a successful recall election or voluntary resignation, Fisher retains her seat.

The First Amendment Question

The legal analysis extends beyond recall procedures into constitutional territory. Gregg Leslie, executive director of the First Amendment Clinic at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, offered a perspective that complicates the dominant narrative. He said that punishing elected officials over speech alone "can create dangerous legal precedent," noting: "It's not the most professional behavior. It's just the kind of thing that we have to protect and we have to tolerate it" [7].

Public meetings are generally classified as "limited public forums" under First Amendment jurisprudence, where the government may restrict discussion to specific topics as long as restrictions are "reasonable and viewpoint neutral" [12]. Courts have upheld rules prohibiting "disorderly, disruptive, disturbing, delaying or boisterous conduct," but have struck down bans on "demeaning" or "derogatory" comments as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination [12].

The question of whether a non-verbal gesture carries the same First Amendment protections as verbal speech is well settled: the Supreme Court has long recognized expressive conduct — including gestures, symbols, and symbolic acts — as protected expression under the First Amendment. Flag burning, armband wearing, and other non-verbal acts of political expression have been upheld as protected speech.

That said, the First Amendment protects individuals from government punishment for their speech. It does not shield elected officials from political consequences — including recall elections, censure votes, or public condemnation. The distinction matters: Fisher cannot be jailed or fined for the gesture, but she can be voted out of office for it.

The Steelman Case for Proportionality

Fisher's own defense — that the gesture was satirical criticism of authoritarian behavior — represents the strongest version of the argument that the backlash is disproportionate. Some conservative commentators have framed the situation through the lens of voter accountability rather than institutional punishment, arguing that "voters must be the ultimate check" on elected officials and that elections and public pressure are the appropriate remedies [7].

This argument holds that comparing a colleague to a dictator, even through an offensive gesture, is a form of political speech that, however crude, falls within the bounds of legitimate dissent. Under this view, the calls for resignation and censure risk setting a precedent where political opponents can use outrage to force out elected officials whose real offense is disagreement on policy, not genuine ideological alignment with Nazism.

The counterargument is equally direct: the gesture is not mere political hyperbole. The Nazi salute is a specific symbol with a specific historical meaning — the systematic murder of six million Jews and millions of others. As the ADL stated, "regardless of intent," the gesture "instill[s] fear in the community" [1]. From this perspective, the intent behind the gesture is secondary to its impact, particularly in a public school setting where students and families from targeted communities are directly affected.

School Board Governance Under Strain

The Fisher incident arrives at a moment when school board governance across the United States is under significant strain. Since 2020, threats and harassment against school board members have surged nationwide, with reported incidents peaking at roughly 1,200 in 2021 before declining to around 620 in 2024 [13].

Source: National School Boards Association / DOJ Reports

Data as of Dec 1, 2024CSV

The escalation has been driven by fierce disputes over curriculum, masking policies, book bans, and now boundary changes. As one education researcher put it, "School boards have become these Ground Zero spaces for major political and ideological fighting" [14]. The result is a governance crisis: qualified candidates are increasingly reluctant to run for school board seats, and sitting members face levels of hostility that were once unimaginable in local government.

Existing codes of conduct for school board members vary widely by district and state, and many were written for an era when the most contentious agenda item might be a bus route change. Few explicitly address the kind of conduct Fisher displayed — a gap that governance experts say needs to be closed, even if enforcement mechanisms remain limited for elected officials [14].

What Comes Next

Fisher has not resigned and has given no indication she intends to. The board may pursue a second censure, though the practical effect would be limited. A recall effort would require sustained community organizing and significant signature collection within a 120-day window [10][11].

The Deer Valley Unified School District still faces the unresolved question of school boundary changes — the very issue that prompted the scheduling dispute that led to the salute. The board must eventually return to that policy discussion, with Fisher still holding a vote.

For the Jewish community in the Phoenix area and beyond, the incident is not an abstraction. The Center for Jewish Philanthropy's statement made clear that the harm is concrete and immediate: Nazi symbolism "causes direct harm to the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, and other minority groups" [1]. The flood of emails from Jewish communities around the world that Carver described suggests the incident has resonated far beyond the boundaries of a single school district in north Phoenix [1].

Whether Fisher's gesture was intended as satire or something else, the community's response has been unequivocal. The question now is whether Arizona's limited legal tools — and the political will of local voters — are sufficient to address it.