MURRAY, Utah — Natalie Cline spoke of her concern at a "Meet The Candidate" event Friday on what children are taught at schools as she ran for her seat at the Utah Board of Education since being censured.
While Cline did not answer questions asked by a member of the public regarding her controversial social media posts about a girl's high school basketball player last year, Cline stressed what platform she would prioritize if re-elected.
"My concern is again for the kids and the things that are being brought into the schools, the practices, policies, the pedagogies that are being used, the curriculums that are embedded with divisive ideologies," said Cline. "I want parents to be able to trust public education again and I'm very concerned about safety of our students and making sure we still have parental involvement. But ultimately, I wanna have a quality education where students have the skills and abilities they need to be successful in the future."
Her challenger who also attended, Amanda Bollinger, also spoke with FOX 13 about their priorities if they secured the seat.
"I want parents to be able to trust public education again. And I'm very concerned about safety of our students and making sure we still have parental involvement," said Bollinger. "But ultimately, I want to have a, a quality education where students have the skills and abilities, they need to be successful in the future. And that's really my big focus is to always improve for kids"
Documents obtained by FOX 13 showed more than 350 complaints were submitted in the first 48 hours of Cline's social media post targeting the student-athlete who she believed was transgender. Cline would later make another post where she apologized for the negative attention her post drew to "innocent students and their families."
Following the controversy, Governor Spencer Cox signed a House Resolution that would strip her of committee assignments and unable to place items on upcoming Board agendas.
Saturday will be the Salt Lake County Republican Party Convention where delegates will determine whether or not Cline will appear on the ballot as the G.O.P. candidate.
