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PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Deer Valley Unified School District board member is facing calls to resign after making a gesture many are calling offensive during a heated board meeting Tuesday night.
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The incident happened during a disagreement over when to hold a public work session.
Tensions had been building for several minutes before the exchange escalated. Video from the meeting shows board members arguing over a proposed start time for a work session.
“There’s a lot of people who have been board president. We managed to collaborate with each other and with the community without throwing a tantrum,” board member Kim Fisher said.
Debate over meeting time
The debate centered on a 4:30 p.m. start time that some board members said would make it difficult for parents, teachers and board members to attend.
“The whole point of us having a work study with our community is that we can get their input and they can hear the discussion,” Fisher said.
Board President Paul Carver Jr. pushed back, arguing no one had formally proposed changes to policy or alternate dates.
“I’m just going to be a little ornery with you just for a minute Mrs. Fisher because everybody’s been making this request non-stop and everybody knows the policy,” Carver said.
Moments later, Fisher appeared to give a Nazi salute while saying “Heil” during the exchange.
Calls for resignation
The Deer Valley Education Association called the gesture “horrifying and disgusting” online and called for Fischer to resign.
Arizona State Representative and fellow board member Stephanie Simacek also spoke out Thursday.
“What happened in that room was not a joke. It was not a political statement or an expression of frustration,” Simacek said.
Gregg Leslie, executive director of the First Amendment Clinic at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, said punishing elected officials over speech alone can create dangerous legal precedent.
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“It’s not the most professional behavior,” Leslie said. “It’s just the kind of thing that we have to protect and we have to tolerate it.”
“You’re just engaged in a little name-calling. And to punish it really would be extreme. It really would say that just by saying words, you’re causing a kind of damage that has to be remedied. And that’s really not what’s happening in most situations like this,” Leslie said.
Leslie said any government action to remove Fisher could result in legal consequences.
“If the government actually took action to remove her from office, I think she’d have a civil rights suit against the body that removed her,” he said.
“I don’t think we would shy from taking a case like that,” he said.
Fisher acknowledged and defended her actions on a personal Facebook page, calling the board president a dictator.
A district spokesperson said the district does not condone gestures or language associated with hate, discrimination, intimidation or violence.
The statement said that as an elected official, Fisher speaks and acts independently.
Board members are elected officials, which means they typically cannot be fired. A recall effort would likely be required.
In a recent case in Peoria Unified, board members voted to remove their president from that leadership role over controversial comments tied to a sexual misconduct investigation. She remains on the board as an elected official.
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