NASHVILLE – What good is a school travel ban when employees run up half a million dollars in travel expenses, anyway?

In September 2016, Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Joseph imposed a temporary travel freeze, “in hopes of scrutinizing work-related travel and ensuring the trips aligned with the district’s priorities,” according to a report from WSMV.com.

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Joseph reportedly allowed some exceptions to the ban, based on the merits of proposed trips.

Apparently there were a lot of exceptions, because school employees ran up a mammoth $590,000 travel tab between October 2016 and March 2017, according to the news report.

The school district claimed that “most of the trips” were paid for with federal grant money, but could not provide an exact number, the report said. The district also claimed that “75 percent” of the trips were for professional development conferences, but did not respond to questions about the purpose of the others.

WSMV reporters asked for details about 20 trips that did not appear to have anything to do with professional development, but district officials did not respond, the story said.

Ironically, some of the district’s top officials – including Superintendent Joseph – were among the most frequent travelers after the ban was imposed, according to the news report.

“Chief Academic Officer Dr. Monique Felder traveled to Pensacola, Savannah and Amelia Island, where leaders stayed at the Ritz-Carlton,” the story said. “Chief of Schools Dr. Sito Narcisse joined Felder, Joseph, and 12 other staff members in Vancouver, before eventually traveling to New Orleans.”

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So much for the travel ban.