Pam Aister is an excellent and respected master teacher. I have had the privilege of working with Ms. Aister during my employment as a former teacher at McDowell Mountain Elementary.

I have always known Ms. Aister to be forthright and professional. Pam was one of the teachers responsible for the Random Acts of Kindness program. Pam was admired by students, parents, and staff.

A teacher is usually given notice to make any necessary corrections with the knowledge that termination might be the next step. Ms. Aister was not given this professional courtesy. My husband and I raised three successful children and always insisted that they respect their teachers, even if they disagreed with them.

If an incident occurred, we discussed it professionally with the teacher and the principal and came to a meeting of the minds. No further hysteria was needed.

Ms. Aister was doing her job to protect all of the students involved from having the situation escalate into something worse, if not then, then at another time. It probably appeared as a “teachable moment” for all of them. Ms. Aister did not shirk her responsibility. She jumped in when needed.

Ms. Aister is an asset to our School District and termination because of this incident, of an excellent teacher who has worked for the Fountain Hills School District for so many years, is outrageous.

We need to protect hard-working, dedicated and experienced teachers such as Ms. Aister. We need principals who will defend teachers, not terminate a teacher anytime a parent complains.

What kind of guidance does this give teachers on how to proactively do something about bullying?

If I still had children of school age, I would definitely request Ms. Pam Aister, without question.