A pair of Boston Public Schools administrators were forced to pay a civil penalty after the state says they took their sons to see the hit musical “Hamilton” using tickets that were donated for use by students at the school where they worked.
Natasha Halfkenny, the former principal of the Maurice J. Tobin School, and the school’s assistant principal, Coreen Miranda, each paid a $4,000 fine for violating the state’s conflict of interest law, Massachusetts Ethics Commission Executive Director David Wilson said Tuesday.
Wilson said in a statement that the educators’ actions denied students of the opportunity to attend the show and violated the state’s conflict of interest law.
“By choosing to allocate three of the donated Hamilton tickets to their own sons who were not Tobin School or BPS students, Halfkenny and Miranda denied three Tobin School students of the opportunity to attend the show and violated the conflict of interest law,” Wilson said.
“This case is a reminder that public employees must not use their official positions to get themselves or others special, valuable privileges to which they are not entitled, and that there are legal consequences for doing so,” Wilson said.