- The Utah Department of Health and Human Services revoked Provo Canyon School's Springville campus license.
- Paris Hilton attended Provo Canyon School as a teen and has been advocating for its closure in recent years.
- The school has 15 days to request a hearing with the department or they will have to stop operations on August 6.
This story has been updated.
Provo Canyon School’s license for its Springville campus was revoked Monday by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
“The department is taking this action because of the provider’s failure to provide applicable health and safety services for clients,” per the notice the department gave the school.
It comes after Paris Hilton, a celebrity entrepreneur and longtime anti-abuse advocate, spoke at a press conference in Provo last month about her experience at Provo Canyon School when she was a teen as well as recent allegations against the school.
Two lawsuits were announced at that event, alleging delayed medical care and neglect toward two students on separate occasions. The incident involving one student, identified as “B.H.” in court documents, was specified as having occurred at the Provo campus. The other case, involving a student named “AC” in court documents, did not specify which campus he attended.
A press release from Utah’s Health and Human Services said, “Provo Canyon School holds a separate license for the Provo campus,” which currently has conditions placed on it. Only the Springville campus license has been revoked.
“We disagree with the state’s decision to revoke Provo Canyon School’s Springville Campus license and are evaluating all available legal and administrative options, including an appeal,” said Tim Marshall, executive director of Provo Canyon School, in a written statement.
He added, “As this is an ongoing matter, we are limited in what we can say at this time. Our priority remains providing safe, high-quality care and support for adolescents and their families, and we remain committed to serving those in need.”
Paris Hilton’s response
Hilton released a statement Tuesday regarding the license revocation.
“For more than 50 years, children came forward with stories of abuse, neglect and trauma,” she said. “The state confirmed what survivors have known all along: Provo Canyon School failed the children in its care.”
She said she knows what it feels like to be one of the children at the school crying for help while no one comes. “Today, children still inside that facility know someone is finally coming to protect them.”
Hilton said that “the little girl in me who was told she would never be believed” feels validated. “No institution is too powerful to be held accountable. When survivors refuse to stay silent, change is possible.”
The Disability Law Center issued a statement hailing the decision to revoke the license at the Springville campus and urged state officials to “take continued action to ensure (the) well-being” of those at the boys’ campus in Provo. The center urged state leaders to make reforms to prevent “needless tragedies” and also urged Utah Health and Human Services to make a “sustained commitment” to protect Utahns with disabilities of all ages from abuse and neglect.
When will the school close?
The notice of revocation said “all services must be terminated” by Aug. 6, 2026, “and any new enrollments are prohibited.”
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services held a press conference Tuesday to discuss the revoked license. Provo Canyon School will be allowed to stay open until the August date to give families time to relocate their children, said Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the Division of Licensing and Background Checks for the department.
She said it would be less safe to close the school immediately and leave students without a new housing arrangement.
The notice listed citations going back to Jan. 22, 2025, addressing the Springville campus’ “chronic, ongoing noncompliance with applicable rules, statutes or requirements.” Thoman-Black was asked why it took the department so long to revoke the license.
“We don’t go in with a hammer when a scalpel will do,” she said.
The Division of Licensing and Background Checks prefers to help providers become compliant by placing conditions on their licenses when rules are broken, she said. If the problems persist, like they did in Springville, the division then revokes licenses as a last resort.
Thoman-Black said the division received a complaint from the Disability Law Center of Utah on June 16, 2026, with multiple allegations against the school. The investigation into the complaint led to the division uncovering “incidents that had not been reported to the Office of Licensing, as required by statutes and rules, as well as incidents that had been reported, but had omitted material information necessary to make accurate determinations as to Provo Canyon’s compliance to statute and rule.” Based on the discoveries, the campus’ license was revoked.
If it disagrees with the revocation, the school has 15 days to request an administrative hearing with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. “If they file it, ... it will go through the process of an administrative law judge review and hearing,” said Thoman-Black.
If the school’s license is ultimately revoked, it cannot apply for a new one for five years.