The Montgomery County Intermediate Unit’s board of directors plans to tighten its professional development and travel policies after learning in March that its leaders had used their agency credit cards to purchase overseas trips — including a 14-day African safari — without the board’s knowledge.
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Mark Klein, an attorney and former schools superintendent who conducted a two-month investigation into the trips, told board members at a virtual meeting Tuesday night that, going forward, the board should require Montco IU leaders to receive board approval for travel.
The current policy, which Klein said has no such requirement, is “in conflict with many of the school districts that are in the area.” He noted that it is not an unusual policy for an intermediate unit.
The outside investigation began after the Inquirer reported in March that the Montco IU’s executive director, Regina Speaker, and its assistant executive director, Sandra Edling, had used their procurement cards to book about $40,000 worth of international travel since 2023.
Speaker has defended the 2023 trip she and Edling took to Kenya and Tanzania, which culminated a yearlong academy for education leaders run by the School Superintendents Association, or AASA.
The itinerary included a trip to a tribal school, as well as 11 nights in “handpicked hotels,” six sightseeing tours and eight wildlife drives in search of zebras, monkeys, lions, baboons, cheetahs, hippos, elephants, wildebeests, and “the exceedingly rare black rhino.”
“Everything was through the lens of leadership,” Speaker previously told The Inquirer. “It was about that process of survival of the fittest, and how are you a leader, and what do you prioritize.”
At Tuesday night’s meeting, however, Speaker apologized for the lack of “adequate transparency” around her travel.
“For anyone who felt disappointed, concerned or uncertain because of my decision, I sincerely apologize,” Speaker said. “I never take your confidence or trust for granted. I remain committed to serving with integrity, humility and transparency.”
Records obtained by The Inquirer last year through a Right-to-Know request showed that Speaker in May 2023 made about $9,000 in purchases related to the Africa trip without providing receipts. The only mention of Africa in the records appeared months later when she purchased a Tanzanian eVisa for $139.
The Montco IU’s then-board president did not sign off on the expenses until after Speaker had returned from Nairobi.
Klein did not directly address those issues in his presentation Tuesday. He recommended that the intermediate unit conduct an audit of how procurement cards are used.
Speaker, whose base salary was $298,000 last year, also traveled to South Korea and Singapore for 11 days in April 2025 as part of a $13,000 leadership academy.
Gary Ledebur, a Montco IU board member who also sits on the board of the Upper Merion Area School District, said while Speaker, according to Klein’s findings, did not violate any policies, “I think Dr. Speaker took advantage of this lack of policy.”
“In my opinion, she exhibited an error in judgment,” Ledebur said. “I wish she had chosen not to go on these trips.”
The intermediate unit, which provides support services to more than 200 area schools, is one of 29 state-mandated agencies in Pennsylvania. It has a $198 million budget and receives a mix of local, state, and federal funding.
The full 21-person board, which is composed of members from each school district board in the county, will meet later this month. It is expected to accept Klein’s recommendations.
“We have found some gaps in our policies, and now that we know that, we’re going to do better,” Margaret Wright, president of the intermediate unit’s board, said Tuesday night.
Expense reports show that in March 2025, Edling, whose base salary last year was $215,000, used her procurement card to make about $7,000 in purchases related to what is described on the purchasing log only as a “conference.” The documents did not name a location or offer specifics.
The Inquirer reported that the expenses were for a planned 10-day trip to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in October 2025 sponsored by AASA, the same superintendents group that organized the African safari.
“Ascend into the Alps for an evening of true Swiss hospitality,” reads the itinerary. “As you feast on beautiful views from your hosts’ mountain chalet, enjoy traditional food, entertainment and fun Swiss games and activities.”
Two school visits were also planned, according to a brochure, in addition to quick-tempo Viennese waltz lessons, an underground train ride into Austria’s ancient Hallein Salt Mine, and a “journey to crazy King Ludwig’s fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein.”
Edling ended up not going on that trip. Speaker said the IU subsequently froze all travel amid Pennsylvania’s budget impasse that had held up much of the intermediate unit’s funding. (The cancellation also came after The Inquirer had requested the records. Speaker said the IU was able to get a refund for that trip.)
After the story was published, about 50 people showed up for the Montco IU’s next board meeting, which are usually sparsely attended. At least 225 more joined by Zoom. Intermediate unit employees expressed outrage.
“The trips felt deceptive and intentionally secretive, and I struggle to understand how they related to our mission,” Liz Forcellini, an occupational therapist at the IU, told the board, adding that some staffers were paying for supplies with their own money.
Public finance experts said the trips raised larger questions about whether taxpayers should pay the full cost of professional-development outings that include substantial leisure time. Some other school administrators who went on the Africa safari paid for it out of pocket, including the head of a New Jersey education service agency who said she also took vacation days.
“Most of us would consider it a dream trip,” Andrew MacLeod, a personal care assistant at the IU, told the board at the March 25 meeting.
The saga took a bizarre turn the following evening when Kimberly Wheeler, then a member of the Montco IU board, falsely stated at a public meeting of the Souderton Area School District’s board of directors that the Inquirer reporter who wrote the story “right now is under investigation with the Philadelphia police for misleading information, and reporting on inaccurate information.”
Sgt. Eric Gripp, a Philadelphia police spokesperson, said in June that the department doesn’t conduct criminal investigations of journalists for their reporting.
Wheeler later walked back her remarks about a police investigation and said she had been “going by the word of Dr. Speaker.”
Asked for comment at the time, Speaker sent a 2023 news release issued by Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal’s office complaining about a story that had exposed financial problems in her office that year. It made no mention of a police investigation.
Inquirer reporter Maddie Hanna contributed to this article.
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