Utah Board of Education votes unanimously to request Natalie Cline’s immediate resignation
Feb 15, 2024, 6:30 AM | Updated: 9:28 am
FILE - The Utah State Board of Education is pictured in Salt Lake City. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Board of Education on Wednesday night voted unanimously to request that controversial board member Natalie Cline resign from her position, effective immediately.
In addition to asking for her resignation, the board voted to formally censure her, remove her from committee assignments, prohibit her from placing items on upcoming board agendas, and ban her from attending any board advisory committee meetings.
Cline, who has an extensive history of being reprimanded and investigated by the board for comments and social media posts, yet again became the center of controversy last week for her post on social media about a high school student-athlete.
The since-deleted post by Cline, a Bluffdale Republican, was a screenshot of an Instagram post from a girls basketball team in Granite School District promoting an upcoming game. The post, which Cline captioned only “Girls basketball …”, included a picture of two student-athletes on the team. Although Cline’s original post has been deleted, screenshots of it — as well as comments made by others under the photo — circulated on social media, leaving a firestorm in its wake.
The board would like to extend its deepest apologies to those harmed by this conduct, in particular the student who was targeted because of member Cline’s post. No individual, especially a child, should be subject to such comments and judgement. We hope that the actions taken today can provide support for the student and the family,” the Utah State Board of Education said in a prepared statement after Wednesday evening’s meeting.
The board said it took action on “to uphold the standards” in its bylaws and ethics guidelines.
“The board policy and bylaws state, ‘Members shall respect the privacy of students, USBE employees, and school level employees, including refraining from direct and indirect identification of such, in a negative light in any public setting, venue, or platform where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy’ and hold board members ‘to a higher standard than the general public in areas of conduct and ethics,'” the statement read.
In a new Facebook post earlier Wednesday, Cline lashed back against the criticism she’s received. She decried the Utah Board of Education’s moves to review her case and possibly sanction her in some way.
“I would like to participate in the process and defend myself. However, the @utboardofed is moving so quickly that they are making it impossible for me to read through all the materials they have provided, gather evidence, draft a response, and prepare for a hearing,” Cline said in her post, her first public comment since her Facebook apology for the prior controversial post.
“Hardened criminals get better due process than I am being provided. Is a decision by the Board legitimate if you don’t provide the accused with proper due process rights?” Cline asked.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson also denounced Cline after the controversial post, saying she “embarrassed the state.”
“We were stunned to learn of the unconscionable behavior of board member Cline and others toward a high school student today. The last thing our children need is an elected official harassing them on social media,” a joint statement from Cox and Henderson said.
“Sadly, this is not the first time that board member Cline has embarrassed the state of Utah and State Board of Education. We urge the State Board of Education to hold her accountable and we commend Granite School District for taking swift action to protect this student’s safety and well-being,” the statement said.
There was a motion made in Wednesday night’s board meeting to separate the disciplinary actions against Cline instead of voting on them together, but that motion failed 9-5.
The vote requesting Cline’s immediate resignation, along with her other disciplinary actions, came after an over two-hour executive session, which was closed to the public.
