SOUTH HADLEY – Teacher Stephanie Viens, who organized overseas field trips for high school students for a decade, was fined $7,000 by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission after admitting she accepted thousands of dollars from the travel company that booked those excursions.

She currently teaches criminal justice and U.S. history courses at South Hadley High School.

In 2017, Viens received a one-month suspension from the School Department for a conflict-of-interest involving compensation for the class trips. The South Hadley Education Association claimed at the time Viens was being targeted because she was chair of the teachers’ union grievance committee.

Beginning in 2007, Viens, as faculty advisor for the South Hadley High School Diversity/Cultural Exchange Club, organized student trips through the educational travel company EF Tours and recruited students, parents and chaperones for the trips, according to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission.

EF Tours enrolled Viens in its rewards program as a group leader, giving her travel points and stipends based, in part, on the number of students, parents, and chaperones she recruited to go on the trips, the Ethics Commission determined.

Between 2013 and 2017, Viens received $5,530 in stipends and 4,516 in travel points from EF Tours, according to the Ethics Commission. During that time, she redeemed the travel points for airline tickets and a European vacation.

The school district’s business manager emailed Viens about the conflict six years ago, but she ignored it, according to the Ethics Commission.

“The business administrator asked Viens to confirm that no one received money from EF Tours. Viens did not reply to the email and went on to organize additional trips and accept additional payments from the tour company.”

The commission added, “Viens violated ... the conflict of interest law when she accepted the travel points and stipends as a reward for organizing the trips and recruiting students, parents, and chaperones. (The) law generally bars municipal employees from participating in their official positions in matters involving their own financial interests.”