2021–2026 · Stephens, Cline, Wilbur, Earl and Green
The earlier library-policy fight.
Brooke Stephens, an administrator of LaVerna in the Library, calls attention to school books and databases in 2021. She shares a library-rule draft by Natalie Cline, then a state school board member, in January 2022. Follow the posts, policy proposals and hearings through Stephens’s later support for board members Jennie Earl and Emily Green.
Books and databases → Cline’s draft → HB374 → Local policies → Support for Green → Earl’s later draft
- 01
December 1, 2021 post
Stephens says the group is focusing on books first.
Stephens shares an article about declarations that pornography is a public-health crisis and asks why Utah schools are defending its inclusion in libraries and databases. In the comments, she writes: “But the online stuff has porn too. We’re just focusing on books first.” She later links a video about school databases. The capture shows the post’s date; it does not show exact dates for those comments.
Read Stephens’s post ↗ (opens in a new tab)Facebook · post dated December 1, 2021
View the saved post and comments ↗ (opens in a new tab)Screenshot · captured November 2, 2026
- 02
January 14, 2022
Stephens circulates Cline’s Draft 4.
Stephens posts screenshots of “Draft #4 of the USBE Library review policy” and says the original link has stopped working. The preserved document is labeled “Draft 4,” “Boardmember Cline” and “January 14, 2022.” Its opening sections match the pages in her post.
Cline’s draft lists seven parents or grandparents, one certified teacher librarian and one educator.
View screenshot
“I love that there are seven parents and two educators on the reconsideration committee.”
Open the full record ↗ (opens in a new tab)Read Stephens’s draft-policy post ↗ (opens in a new tab)Facebook · January 14, 2022
Read Cline’s January 14 Draft 4 ↗ (opens in a new tab)Proposed rule · committee membership, page 5
- 03
February 17, 2022
Bromberg shares a petition opposing HB374.
Peter Bromberg posts an EveryLibrary-hosted petition in the Shirley the Librarian group. He asks people to sign and share it, and says education and library groups are monitoring and working together on the bills. His post describes HB374 as encouraging lawsuits against teachers.
Read Bromberg’s petition post ↗ (opens in a new tab)Facebook · February 17, 2022
View the saved post ↗ (opens in a new tab)Screenshot · captured November 2, 2026
- 04
February 25, 2022
Stephens helps Ivory present HB374.
Ken Ivory, Utah state representative, presents the sensitive-materials bill with Stephens and Larry Bergeson, Washington County School District superintendent. The minutes say they distribute handouts and answer committee questions. This appearance is more than three years before the August 2025 Bag of Bones email chain.
Read the HB374 hearing minutes (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · February 25, 2022 · page 1
- 05
May 4, 2022
Cline’s draft would withhold every district copy during a challenge.
Cline’s Draft 2 proposes withholding access to all available copies of a challenged title in every school in the district until the complaint is resolved. It also calls for the district to send the initial complaint to the state board and publish the status of complaints. The date printed on the draft is May 4, 2022.
What the file records
The PDF lists “MD Wilbur” in its author field. The Drive copy is owned by Mary in the Library USA, the account listed for Stephens in RatedBooks’ incorporation filing.
See the file details
- Date printed on the draft
- May 4, 2022
- PDF author field
- MD Wilbur
- PDF created
- May 5, 2022 · 9:31:55 a.m. MDT
- Software
- Acrobat PDFMaker 21 for Word
- Drive copy created
- May 6, 2022
- Drive owner, checked November 2, 2026
- Mary in the Library USA
Read the original PDF with its file properties ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Read Cline’s proposed review rules (opens in a new tab)Library Model Policy Guidance & Training · Draft 2 · page 3
- 06
May 5, 2022
Monica Wilbur challenges the state’s guidance on HB374.
In public comment, Wilbur criticizes a memo sent to school districts by Assistant Attorney General Ashley Biehl. The board minutes record Wilbur’s position that the email misinterpreted HB374. Her comment concerns how schools should apply the law.
Wilbur also urges parents to compare the competing model policies and backs the version Cline will put forward.
Watch video
Monica Wilbur · May 5, 2022 · 47-second excerpt · automatic captions
Watch the full public comment ↗ (opens in a new tab)Read the automatic transcript
Automatic captions from the saved clip.
Parents, please pay attention tomorrow. The Law and Licensing Committee will have to make a choice between competing model policies on library materials. One policy will do little to nothing to, nothing to protect your kids from destructive pornographic materials. The other policy, which will be put forth by member Cline, not only honors and upholds state law, but more importantly, it safeguards your kids’ emotional and psychological safety. Don’t take my word for it. You need to read the two versions for yourself side by side. Please, if board members truly want to protect kids, the choice of the policy which they vote for should be objectively obvious. Thank you for your time this morning.
Read the record of Wilbur’s public comment (opens in a new tab)State school board minutes · May 5, 2022 · page 2
- 07
May 6, 2022
Wilbur asks the committee to choose Cline’s draft.
The next day, Wilbur speaks to the Law and Licensing Committee. She backs Cline’s library-policy draft and asks committee members to vote for it. She argues that challenged books should be removed from circulation while they are reviewed and that the state board should supervise how districts apply the law.
Watch Wilbur’s committee comment ↗ (opens in a new tab)State school board · Law and Licensing Committee · May 6, 2022 · 13:40–16:43
Read her 3-minute comment
Automatic transcript. Paragraph breaks and punctuation added for reading.
Okay thank you. Um, the first thing I would uh like to say is that a model policy should be the board's best foot forward and looking over all the drafts it's clear that members member klein's draft is that best foot forward.
There's something that's unique about her draft and what it does is it ensures a child's equal protection under the laws. And these are not just any laws we're talking about but we're talking about criminal laws. And, uh, it's really important to understand that if we let the LEAs make up their own model policies on instructional materials that are widely varying the protection that a child gets from harmful materials will essentially depend on the school or district that he or she goes to and that's unacceptable.
Another thing I'd like to point out is that the handling of sensitive materials in schools deals directly with pornography. And that requires a higher standard of involvement of the state board.
Article 10 section 3 in the state constitution authorizes the USBE with the general control and supervision of the public education system. There's nowhere in any of these other versions where the state board even exercises properly and fully the supervision portion of that responsibility and that's unacceptable. on such a high profile student safety issue.
Hb 374 makes the state board accountable to the legislature for the proper enforcement of this law. And the supervision of these materials needs to be done properly to fulfill your constitutional duty, legally.
Something else I'd like to point out is that the continued accessibility excuse me [one-minute time warning] thank you the continued accessibility of these questionable books to children um can really creates a hostile and unsafe learning environment Uh, in a workplace this would be considered sexual harassment.
This is really important. You, if a dispute comes up about a book that book does need to be removed from circulation until it can be properly reviewed because of the legal ramifications. [30-second time warning] And you want to make sure that we don't have books in there that are in the meantime destroying a kid's social and emotional development.
Nobody like uh like joel mentioned nobody ever says that the real problem with our schools today is that kids don't have enough access to porn.
So I'd like to encourage all the members of the committee to vote for member klein's version of this model policy as it would be your board's best foot forward. Thank you.
- 08
June 30, 2022
The board switches from Cline’s proposal to a merged draft.
Cline moves to adopt her later Draft 3.5. Matt Hymas, a state school board member, offers a substitute motion to use a merged draft; Carol Lear, also a board member, seconds it. That switch passes 11–3. Cline and fellow board members Jennie Earl and Stacey Hutchings oppose the switch. The board amends the merged text, then postpones the remaining business to a future meeting.
The minutes credit board members Molly Hart, Lear, Hymas and Cindy Davis with contributions to the merged draft.
Read the motions and the board’s decision (opens in a new tab)State school board minutes · June 30, 2022 · pages 3–6
- 09
July 1, 2022
Earl says the library-policy amendments are unfinished.
Earl writes that time ran out the previous day and another meeting in July is needed to finish the library policy. She describes the master draft as combining work from Cline, Lear and other board members, and notes that Cline also put forward her own policy.
“Time ran out yesterday before amendments were finished so one more meeting in July to finish the library policy.”
Earl tells readers that districts can make their own local policies and use the state board’s policy for guidance.
View screenshot
Open the full record ↗ (opens in a new tab) - 10
August 29, 2022
Earl asks parents to press their local boards on library rules.
Earl asks parents to contact their local school boards about the policies they are using. She calls for stronger definitions of “age-appropriate” and “community standards.” She also says a materials review should be able to begin without a full reading of the material.
Read Earl’s local-policy post ↗ (opens in a new tab)Facebook · August 29, 2022
View the saved excerpt ↗ (opens in a new tab)Screenshot · visible excerpt ends during point 4
- 11
February 23, 2023
Stephens and Earl join Ivory for another school-materials bill.
Ivory presents HB464 with Earl, then state board vice chair; Andrea Ni, a Park City resident and mother; and Stephens of Utah Parents United. Nicholeen Peck speaks in favor as an advocacy-group president. The bill proposes a state rating system and does not become law.
Read the HB464 hearing minutes (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · February 23, 2023 · page 3
Read the proposed state rating requirement (opens in a new tab)HB464 first substitute · lines 135–143
See HB464’s bill history (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · 2023 session
- 12
February 9, 2024
Stephens assists with HB29. Peck supports it.
Ivory presents HB29 to the Senate Education Committee with Stephens’s assistance. Peck speaks in favor as president of the Worldwide Organization for Women. Stephens is again part of the bill presentation, two years after her HB374 appearance.
Read the HB29 hearing minutes (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · February 9, 2024 · page 3
- 13
June 9, 2024
Stephens promotes Green’s board remarks.
Stephens shares a video labeled “USBE 6/7/24 Board meeting on Sensitive Materials – Emily Green.” She praises Green, a state school board member. Her post quotes Green’s remarks about protecting children from sexually explicit materials in schools.
View screenshot
“We have some great members on the Utah State Board of Education!”
Open the full record ↗ (opens in a new tab)Read Stephens’s post about Green ↗ (opens in a new tab)Facebook · June 9, 2024
- 14
May 8, 2026 meeting
Stephens shares a meeting recording and an AI summary about Earl’s draft.
In a post headed “Sensitive Materials at USBE NOW,” Stephens links a state school board committee recording and labels the accompanying text an AI summary. The summary discusses Earl’s draft library policy, age-appropriate reviews and a proposed 30-day public review period for new books.
The linked recording is the May 8, 2026 Standards and Assessment Committee meeting. The saved post displays “May 8” without a year; this step uses the recording’s meeting date.
View Stephens’s saved post ↗ (opens in a new tab)Screenshot · post displays May 8
Watch the linked committee meeting ↗ (opens in a new tab)USBE Media · May 8, 2026 meeting