A north Phoenix school board member’s Nazi salute ignited outrage and calls for her resignation — but colleagues say the flashpoint is just the latest in a long-running saga that distracts from the good work being done by the district.
The controversy surrounding Deer Valley Unified School District governing board member Kim Fisher extends far beyond the May meeting incident, with current and former officials describing a pattern of escalating disputes that have spilled into lawsuits, social media attacks and internal dysfunction.
Those tensions — including a yearslong conflict involving the district’s superintendent and his family — are now resurfacing as the district grapples with the fallout from Fisher’s actions and growing pressure for accountability.
Fisher, who said “heil” and made the Nazi gesture during a May 26 meeting, said her behavior was a reference to what she saw as the district being run like a dictatorship. She declined to comment for this story.
People are also reading…
Alleged social media attacks
Ann Ordway, who served on the board for 16 years, said she wasn’t surprised by Fisher’s conduct at the meeting. Ordway said she was a longtime target of Fisher’s, including an instance in which Fisher accused her of faking cancer while she was undergoing chemotherapy.
Others on the dais — including board President Paul Carver and Superintendent Curtis Finch — described ongoing conflicts with Fisher.
Both men said Fisher has attacked them on social media. Finch said he would not speak negatively of Fisher, despite her speaking negatively about his family for years.
Carver said Fisher initially supported him during his campaign for the governing board. But things soured between the two of them when he did not always vote with her, especially when he didn't back her effort to push Finch out.
Carver said one of his biggest frustrations involves open meeting law violations and cited one incident where Fisher secretly recorded a conversation discussing an executive session with someone who was not in the session. The district then had to spend money on retraining the board, he said.
Community members rally earlier this month for Kim Fisher's resignation from the Deer Valley Unified School District governing board.
The chatter on social media also takes attention away from what the board is elected to focus on and affects it, Carver said. When the Nazi salute was made, the public wanted to know why the board could not oust Fisher or issue punishment. It then falls on the rest of the board to explain that they cannot discipline one another under Arizona law.
"Whenever we cast our ballot, we hope that we're electing somebody that has a higher set of standards that will hold themselves to what we all envision is a proper level of behavior and professionalism when they're representing the community," Carver said.
Carver's name began to get dragged into social media posts about Finch and his wife, Angie Finch. On social media, Fisher and Angie Finch have plenty of posts addressing each other in a back-and-forth over the course of several years. Angie Finch said the conflict began when she asked Fisher to stop writing journals to her husband, which she found inappropriate.
In 2025, Fisher took to Facebook to accuse Angie Finch of targeting her son. In the post, Fisher accused Finch of stalking her and said she did not feel safe meeting with Curtis Finch without another person present. Angie Finch also accused Fisher of inciting people to stalk her and said Fisher at one point discussed having a gun with another commentator.
Angie Finch also said she believes people associated with Fisher are responsible for her car window being shot in and her house getting vandalized. While she has never witnessed the acts, Angie Finch said things would always coincide when Fisher and others were speaking about her on social media.
Court battle continues
In addition to the turmoil on social media, Fisher also has a history of legal disputes related to education and school board issues.
She filed a discrimination lawsuit in 2014 against Glendale Union Elementary School District, where Fisher was formerly an employee. Fisher accused the district of not promoting her because she was "not Hispanic enough." The case was dismissed.
Angie Finch is also embroiled in a legal battle with Fisher. The two have both accused one another of harassment, with Fisher filing for an injunction against harassment, a type of restraining order, against Angie Finch in 2025. The case was dismissed, and the judge ordered Fisher to pay Angie Finch’s legal fees after she failed to appear in court. Fisher has appealed the decision in an effort to avoid paying attorney's fees.
Fisher, who represented herself, told the court that Angie Finch had been “going after” her for many years on social media. Fisher said Angie Finch had accused her on social media of waiting by Curtis Finch's car and obsessively writing journals to him.
Court documents include a string of emails showing disagreements between Curtis Finch and Fisher. In one email, Curtis Finch wrote Fisher had referred to him as Hitler, a “pedophile protector” and child abuser, among other things.
“You are messed up... you need help... Please stop,” Curtis Finch said in a 2023 email.
Fisher wrote: “You may not like the truth being exposed or my opinion on things, but it is not defamatory."
In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Angie Finch said all of Fisher’s accusations are false.
Divide deepens on board
While Fisher has accused her opponents of aligning with liberals or communists, both the Finchs and Carver identify as conservative — a divide Angie Finch said reflects growing fractures within the Republican Party.
"If you don't fall in line and do exactly what they say, you are labeled a Democrat, a RINO, a liberal, and then you are targeted," Angie Finch said.
Carver also said he has been a lifelong Republican despite Fisher claiming that he is not a true Republican and has accused him of voting with the two Democrats on the board. But Carver said the board votes are often 5-0 or 4-1, with the odd one out typically being Fisher.
Ordway, an independent, said the conflict on the board stems from Fisher's unwillingness to be a team player.
Angie Finch thinks there should be stricter vetting requirements for people to serve on the school board. In Arizona, there are no background checks or mental health screenings required to run for school board.
Ordway emphasized that Deer Valley Unified is more than the press that has come from Fisher’s Nazi salute.
“Deer Valley is made up of hundreds of parts of greatness, and they’re there for the kids," Ordway said. "Make no mistake: Kim Fisher is not the face of Deer Valley."
