Tulare County Supervisors Back Library in Firing of Probationary Staffer

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 3/19/2008

• "Legitimate business reasons" cited
• Previous performance evaluation solid
• Independent review coming

Despite a probationary library assistant's contention that the loss of her job was connected to an unauthorized report to police that a library patron was looking at child pornography, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, Visalia, CA, said an internal review determined that the decision was not connected to that report, according to the Visalia Times-Delta. 

Brenda Biesterfeld, who worked in the Lindsay branch of the Tulare County Library, gained much support from the public and the Lindsay City Council when she was fired after the incident. The city council held that Biesterfeld's supervisor Judi Hill and library director Brian Lewis "failed to meet the public trust." However, the Board of Supervisors said that “legitimate business reasons” supported Biesterfield’s "release from probation," but they could not disclose them without a release from the Biesterfeld, who told the newspaper she would authorize the release.

She did give the newspaper a copy of an evaluation that said her performance was "reasonable and consistent with normal expectations of proficiency." Also, said the board, “In order to address public concern about these events, we are arranging to have an independent investigation performed under the oversight of a judicial official.”