Boston educators fined for using donated Hamilton tickets

The former principal and current assistant principal at the Maurice J. Tobin School in Roxbury have each been fined $4,000 for personally using tickets that were donated to the school’s students to see a live performance of the musical “Hamilton,” the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission said Tuesday.

Natasha Halfkenny, who is no longer principal at the K-8 public school, and Assistant Principal Coreen Miranda, each waited their right to a hearing and admitted to violating the state’s conflict of interest law when they used three of 12 donated tickets to take their sons to see the hit musical in 2023, according to disposition agreements signed Tuesday by the commission’s executive director.

Halfkenny and Miranda have each paid their fines, the commission said in a statement.

“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,” David A. Wilson, the commission’s executive director, said in the statement. “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.”

Boston Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment or provide a date or reason for Halfkenny’s departure.

Halfkenny’s LinkedIn page does not reflect her departure date. It said she has been with the district for 24 years and served as interim principal at the Tobin School from January to August 2021 when she became head of school.

According to Miranda’s LinkedIn page, she has been with the district for 20 years, and has been Tobin’s assistant principal since September 2021.

The ethics investigations began in July 2023, several months after the women attended a March 1, 2023 performance of “Hamilton” at the Citizens Bank Opera House with their sons and eight hand-picked students, according to the 6-page disposition agreements signed by Halfkenny on Sept. 10 and by Miranda on Sept. 11.

When the Boston Education Development fund notified Miranda that a non-profit organization had donated 14 tickets to see the hit musical, two for chaperones and 12 for students who would otherwise be unable to attend such a Broadway style show, Miranda immediately informed Halfkenny that she was going to claim one of the chaperone tickets for herself and two of the other tickets for her sons, the agreements said.

The tickets, for center seats in the mezzanine section, were valued at $149 each.

Miranda asked Halfkenny, her direct supervisor and friend she socialized with outside of work, if she also would like to attend as a chaperone. Halfkenny not only failed to prohibit Miranda from bringing her sons, she also agreed to chaperone, documents show.

According to the agreements, Miranda asked BEDF’s executive director about bringing her sons. The executive director, who was not named in the documents, “told her it would not be a problem,” the agreements said.

Rather than open the opportunity to attend the musical to students schoolwide, Halfkenny and Miranda selected the nine eighth-grade students who were invited, documents show.

When one of the students was unable to attend at the last minute, the ticket went to Halfkenny’s son, the agreements said. Only 13 of the 14 tickets were used.

Tonya Alanez can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talanez.