{"id":122023,"date":"2026-02-24T11:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/122023\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:43:05","slug":"philly-schools-superintendent-bans-local-conference-hotel-rooms-following-bl-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/122023\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly schools superintendent bans local conference hotel rooms following B+L investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than two weeks after a Broad + Liberty investigation<\/a> exposed $309,000 in questionable conference spending, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington clamped down on travel expenses \u2014 specifically banning hotel rooms for conferences held inside the city\u2019s limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless approved by me due to a special circumstance, please prohibit payment for staff overnight hotel rooms for conferences held in Philadelphia,\u201d Watlington emailed to the district\u2019s chief financial officer, Michael Herbstman, thirteen days after the original story<\/a> was published in September. For emphasis, Watlington cc\u2019d six other email addresses.<\/p>\n

That report from September documented how SDP spent at least $309,000 on a union conference in March 2025. Expenses included approximately $14,500 in rooms at a Philadelphia hotel even though the district\u2019s travel policy prohibits overnight stays \u201cwithin the greater Philadelphia region\u201d without superintendent approval<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watlington\u2019s directive, then, wasn\u2019t new. It reinforced a policy the district had apparently been ignoring. The district did not provide a response to that question and others in advance of this report. It also did not give a response to the original report.<\/p>\n

Other emails clearly show the investigation\u2019s findings sparked concern in other corners of the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot sure of the reach of this article but this may be a problem for conference spending. Just a heads up,\u201d Robert Zindell, a project manager for the district, said in an email to a colleague. \u201cClearly a certain agenda is at play here but the points on spending are valid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communications officer Christina Clark sent the story to SDP spokesperson and deputy chief communications officer Monique Braxton.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust flagging because I believe there was a concern that it could go mainstream, prompting inquiries from other outlets,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yes, I did share that concern up front,\u201d Braxton replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet another email showed the district\u2019s director of accounts payable flagging the story to other officials like Herbstman as well as Deputy CFO and Comptroller Marcy Blender, and two attorneys for the district.<\/p>\n

Broad + Liberty\u2019s original report<\/a> from September 2025 detailed the district\u2019s spending on the union conference \u2014 CASA One, the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators \u2014 just months prior in March. Besides highlighting the issue of purchasing Philadelphia-area hotel rooms for Philadelphia-based employees, the report also noted that the district refused to explain why it was spending approximately $294,000 on registration fees for a union conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the CASA contract requires the district to contribute $600 per CASA member annually to a professional-development partnership, records show the CASAOne payments were made directly from district accounts, not from that partnership fund,\u201d the first Broad + Liberty report noted.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a district policy seems to suggest such an event never should have been held at a hotel at all, and instead should have used district facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf multiple employees need to attend an in-person only conference or other learning opportunity, managers should pursue alternatives of having the session held at a District facility or identify local conferences before out of town on-site travel is authorized,\u201d the policy explains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State Representative Martina White, a Philadelphia Republican who expressed criticism in the first report, acknowledged the district was making the right move.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it took investigative reporting and a public spotlight to force adherence to an established and commonsense practice of not paying for hotel rooms locally,\u201d White said. \u201cI support transparency and accountability within all government agencies, as they are funded with tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparations for the 2026 CASA One conference next month are underway at the Hilton Hotel at Penn\u2019s Landing. \u201cRiver views, walking distance to Old City. Steps from waterfront activities on the Delaware River, our hotel is a mile from the\u00a0 Liberty Bell, the convention center, Reading Terminal, and the Museum of the American Revolution,\u201d the CASA One website says. \u201cWe\u2019re adjacent to Spruce Street Harbor Park and within walking distance to shops and galleries in Old City.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference is marketed as a professional development meeting and certainly has the breakout sessions to back up that claim. At the same time, it also appears to be something of a political networking session. Pictures posted at the CASA One website are a who\u2019s who of Philadelphia Democrats, including Mayor Cherelle Parker, State Senators Sharif Street, Vincent Hughes, and others.<\/p>\n

Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty\u2019s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than two weeks after a Broad + Liberty investigation exposed $309,000 in questionable conference spending, School District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57379,57380,9537,227,2311,69,71,70,23941,19959,22508,40959,6909],"class_list":{"0":"post-122023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-bl-investigates","9":"tag-casa","10":"tag-cherelle-parker","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-must-read","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","15":"tag-philadelphia-news","16":"tag-philadelphia-schools","17":"tag-sharif-street","18":"tag-teachers-unions","19":"tag-tony-watlington","20":"tag-vincent-hughes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}