Utah State Board of Education member under investigation for criticizing public education indoctrination on social media

A member of the Utah State Board of Education is under investigation by the board for social media posts critical of public education.

The USBE is basing its investigation of board member Natalie Cline on complaints received on a public hotline established by the board.

“We have received a number of concerns by the hotline about member Cline,” board spokeswoman Kelsey James said, according to local KSL TV 5 News. “We’ve also received a number of positive constituent feedback about Cline.”

James said the hotline has received over 1000 comments since it was established about various educational topics, not just board members, reports KSL.

The board already completed a previous investigation of a social media post by Cline.

That investigation was triggered when Cline posted a photo of a seminary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a sign that said “If you are LGBTQIA+ welcome to seminary,” in Facebook.  

She made the comment accompanying the photo, “Time to make some phone calls” and “The world is too much with us,” according to Deseret News.

The board claimed the post inspired “hate speech” and necessitated a reprimand, reported Deseret News.

Although it’s unclear which social media posts the USBE board is referring to the latest investigation, in a statement not mentioning Cline by name, the board said it was investigating comments by a board member.

“The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) firmly believes that children must be protected from inappropriate sexual material in the school setting. USBE leadership strongly disapproves of recent social media statements by one board member that schools are ‘complicit in the grooming of children for sex trafficking’ and ‘brainwashing them into queer, gender bending ideologies,’” the statement read, according to Fox News.

KSL TV cites a Facebook post from July 5th from Cline regarding the movie “Sound of Freedom” about child sex trafficking that was headed, “Not official USBE Board position.”

“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,” said the post by Cline.