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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Records obtained by FOX 17 News present Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle incurred almost $19,293 in journey bills over somewhat greater than two years, together with convention journeys throughout the nation, lodge stays, transportation prices and high-dollar meals.
The data, overlaying 2024 via 2026, present Battle traveled to cities together with Boston, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Tampa and New York for conferences, management applications and different skilled occasions.
Among the bills reviewed by FOX 17 News:
- A $711 dinner at Ocean Prime in Washington, D.C.
- A $545 dinner at Kitchen + Kocktails in Dallas
- A separate $435 meal on the identical Dallas restaurant
- A $350 meal at Eddie V’s in San Diego
- Multiple high-end lodge stays in Boston, Dallas, Denver and New Orleans
- Rental vehicles, and airport transportation tied to convention journey
The data present Battle attended greater than a dozen conferences, conferences and management occasions through the interval reviewed.
Flight prices weren’t included in these bank card receipts.
One vacation spot appeared repeatedly: Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, the place data present a number of journeys over roughly a yr.
The spending comes as MNPS manages a finances exceeding $1 billion and as lecturers throughout Tennessee proceed advocating for increased pay and extra classroom assets.
MNPS says journey helps create alternatives
District leaders say the journey is a part of main certainly one of Tennessee’s largest and most advanced college techniques.
“Travel is an essential part of the Superintendent’s role in leading a large, complex school district like Metro Nashville Public Schools,” district spokesperson Sean Braisted stated in an announcement to FOX 17 News.
Braisted stated the journey permits Battle to attach with training leaders throughout the nation, be taught profitable methods and construct partnerships that profit college students and employees.
The district additionally addressed a number of the bigger meal bills mirrored within the data.
“Occasionally, it’s necessary to cover the cost of group meals involving the Superintendent and senior leadership team, particularly while traveling for conferences or meetings,” Braisted stated.
According to MNPS, these meals typically served as working classes whereas employees attended conferences collectively and have been meant to interchange separate reimbursements for a number of workers.
The district pointed to initiatives resembling University MNPS and a current partnership with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville offering tuition scholarships to some college students as examples of the worth these relationships can create.
Former board member questions spending priorities
Former Metro college board member Fran Bush stated she understands the worth of conferences {and professional} improvement.
She attended training conferences herself whereas serving in district management.
But Bush questioned whether or not a number of the spending mirrored within the data aligns with what taxpayers anticipate.
“Everything is an expense right now,” Bush instructed FOX 17 News. “We have to be good stewards of our taxpayer dollars.”
Bush stated conferences could be helpful when leaders deliver again concepts that enhance faculties however believes taxpayers ought to have the ability to clearly see what these investments produced.
“Yes, the conferences do help,” Bush stated. “However, it was very thought out at the time. There was no luxury to it.”
She additionally questioned how a lot journey is important.
“We don’t need ongoing conferences,” Bush stated. “These are conferences that are every now and then. We bring back those ideas and that information and start to apply it.”
How does the spending examine?
The spending additionally seems to exceed that of another Tennessee districts.
Records beforehand reviewed by FOX 17 News confirmed Williamson County Schools Superintendent incurred roughly $8,100 in journey bills throughout an analogous interval, lower than half the quantity mirrored in Battle’s data.
FOX 17 News additionally requested data from Wilson County Schools. District officers instructed FOX 17 that Director of Schools Jeff Luttrell doesn’t have a district-issued bank card, although reimbursement data requested by FOX 17 had not been supplied as of publication.
Bush argues the larger problem isn’t essentially a single dinner or lodge keep.
“It becomes a pattern of not trusting what’s happening with our taxpayer dollars,” she stated. “It becomes a question of how our taxpayer dollars are being used.”
MNPS factors to 4 consecutive Level 5 TVAAS scores, document commencement charges and Battle’s recognition because the 2026 Mid-Cumberland Superintendent of the Year as proof that the district is seeing outcomes underneath her management.
For critics, nevertheless, the query stays whether or not taxpayers can clearly see what they acquired in return for almost $20,000 in journey spending.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you’ll be able to go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://fox17.com/news/local/what-did-taxpayers-get-for-mnps-superintendent-dr-battles-19k-in-travel-expenses-dr-adrienne-battle
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