Controversial Utah school board member draws fire for posts accusing teacher of promoting communism
Jordan School District says the allegations are not true.
Natalie Cline | Updated: Feb. 19, 2021, 1:07 a.m.
Utah’s state school board distanced itself Thursday from a member after she attacked a teacher on social media publicly posting the teacher’s name, the school where she works and accusing her, without offering evidence
, of instructing students that “communism is better than our form of government.”
Board member Natalie Cline also encouraged her followers to share the information and urged them to “take action” against the middle school English teacher. Several responded by calling on social media for the teacher to be fired for indoctrinating kids and urging the teacher to leave the country.
State school board member accuses teacher of promoting communism; district says not true
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A member of the Utah State Board of Education took to social media this week to publicly call out a Riverton teacher for teaching “that communism is better than our form of government.” Caption: KUTV: Daniel Woodruff reports
But the Jordan School District tells 2News that board member Natalie Cline s claims are inaccurate.
“We’ve very specifically refuted her inaccuracies,” said district spokeswoman Sandra Riesgraf. “We’ve invited her to have a conversation with us.”
Riesgraf told 2News, so far, Cline has not responded.
Utah school board member faces backlash for online comments
February 2, 2021 GMT
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Some Utah parents and teachers have called for the removal of a conservative state school board member for posting comments they consider racist, homophobic and uniformed.
Natalie Cline, who represents District 11 on the Utah State Board of Education, was sworn into office Jan. 6 after election to the board in November.
A MoveOn.org petition, which had more than 4,000 signatures Monday, says Cline “promotes discriminatory and unethical rhetoric to the public” while promoting her views on the board.
Beyond the petition seeking Cline’s ouster, LGBTQ and racial justice advocacy groups including the Utah Pride Center, Equality Utah, the Utah state chapter of Black Lives Matter and the Salt Lake City branch of the NAACP condemned her comments.
Deseret News
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Utah State Board of Education
SALT LAKE CITY Mark Huntsman has been elected to a fourth term as chairman of the 15-member Utah State Board of Education.
In board elections conducted Tuesday, Huntsman was elected to another two-year term while board members Laura Belnap and Cindy Davis were elected to vice chair positions, with terms beginning in 2021.
Board members select leadership every two years and have the option of creating up to three vice chair seats.
Huntsman, who resides in Fillmore, is president of Sunrise Engineering Inc., an engineering firm that operates in multiple states. He previously served eight years on the Millard Board of Education. Huntsman represents District 14, which includes much of central and southeast Utah. He also co-operates a ranch near his home.