State School Board says controversial board member didn't violate bylaws

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Board of Education on Monday concluded a personnel investigation into controversial board member Natalie Cline after determining Cline did not violate any board bylaws.

In a statement, the board said it had "concluded its analysis of several hotline complaints" against Cline. In July, KSL NewsRadio reported that Cline was under investigation for recent comments over a staff member's gender orientation, recent social media posts, and one other unknown situation.

Additionally, State School Board auditors confirmed those are three of 87 complaints made against Cline since around the time she was last publicly reprimanded by the board in September 2021 for social media posts that they said "incited hate speech."

Here's a look into the two complaints the board referenced in the announcement that Cline didn't violate board bylaws.

Taylorsville Library complaint

On June 29, Cline gave a presentation at the Taylorsville Library as part of an organization she runs called "Higher Ground."

Higher Ground's website has statements saying that the "public school system is out of control" and that "families are being overcome by a social change agenda as strong and relentless as a tsunami." The website also claims some school methods, like social-emotional learning, are used to "behaviorally condition children toward value systems and mindsets" that promote social agendas over traditional, family-based norms.

At the end of Cline's presentation, she allegedly made a comment about a Utah State Board of Education staff member's gender orientation, according to people in the audience.

"Natalie said that the person who is in charge of family services of USBE … sometimes they came in and you didn't know if they were a man and a woman, or how they were dressing, or what pronouns they would want you to use," Julie Jackson told KSL NewsRadio last month.

Jackson is a member of the Granite School Board. She attended the presentation because it was in her district and she wanted to get an understanding of what the group believed.

Jackson said the comments crossed a line into discrimination when Cline questioned the Board of Education staffer's ability to do her job.

In the video presentation posted online, that portion of the video was edited out and a message tells the viewer the camera's battery died.

"Board leadership requested additional investigation beyond the preliminary analysis, which included engagement by legal counsel and a request for response from board member Cline. The board met twice last week to review the evidence and consider possible action," said the statement from the Utah State Board of Education. "USBE takes seriously any report of improper conduct by its members, including allegations about statements that violate the privacy of staff members. In this matter, no additional action was taken due to a lack of sufficient evidence."

Facebook post complaint

Five days after the incident at the Taylorsville Library, Cline posted on Facebook that, "Schools are not only complicit in the grooming of children for sex trafficking, but they are aiding and abetting this evil practice by giving kids easy access to explicit, unnatural, and twisted sexual content and brainwashing them into queer, gender-bending ideologies."

On July 13, the Utah State Board of Education responded to Cline's post with a press release that said the board "strongly disapproves" of Cline's post.

"Such an allegation against schools generally are inflammatory, divisive and unfair to Utah's teachers, who put Utah's students first every day and interfere with efforts to provide thoughtful solutions to difficult issues," the board wrote. "We also condemn any harassment or discrimination against teachers or students on the basis of sexual orientation as provided by Utah law."

Cline responded to the statement on July 18 with a press release of her own, accusing board leadership of making "baseless" statements and releasing an "ill-advised" press release that subjected her character to a "gross misrepresentation."

Related:

Utah State Board of Education member Natalie Cline under board investigation

Comments over a staff member's gender orientation, social media posts, and an unknown situation involving Utah State Board of Education member Natalie Cline are being investigated.

Cline added that board leadership knew about the preliminary analysis on July 13, but the leadership "issued its defamatory press release after receiving the internal audit reports," telling Cline in an email they "still 'determined there to be merit to the concerns.'"

The state board responded to her claims in its Monday statement, saying the leadership exercised "its own right to speak" in the July 13 press release addressing Cline's comments.

"USBE regrets that inaccurate statements regarding the investigation and preliminary analysis in this matter during the confidential investigation led to premature conclusions and speculation regarding board action," said the board's Monday statement.

Despite distancing itself from Cline's remarks, the board acknowledged that "its members have the right to speak under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, including controversial speech on policy issues and speech that is critical of the government."

Fallout

Following the board's findings that Cline wasn't in violation of board bylaws, the Utah Education Association released a statement of its own condemning Cline and expressing "profound concern and outrage" over her recent remarks.

"We are deeply troubled by USBE's failure to find her toxic words in violation of its standards and its unwillingness to take action to reprimand or censure Cline," said the statement.

UEA's statement talks about the vital roles teachers play in nurturing and educating students and that labeling educators with "baseless accusations undermines their dedication and erodes the trust between educators, students, parents and the community."

"I am horrified that an elected official entrusted with overseeing education policy in our state would blatantly disregard teachers' tireless efforts and intentionally create an environment of mistrust and hostility detrimental to the educational process," Utah Education Association President Renee Pinkney said in a statement.

The Utah State Board of Education called for Cline to acknowledge the harm her statements caused and to apologize to educators.

Cline didn't respond to requests for comment from KSL.

Contributing: Lindsay Aerts, Michael Houck

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