A special commissioner for the New York City public schools released a report earlier this month stating that some employees stole money earmarked for homeless students and spent it on trips to Disney parks for their own families. The funds were supposed to be used to take the homeless kids on these vacations.
According to the report, six school system employees took their own kids or grandkids on trips to Disney World in Florida, on vacations to New Orleans, and to other destinations. The district’s homeless students were supposed to be the ones taken on these trips; the money was supposed to be spent on kids who live in homeless shelters or temporary accommodations.
The report names Linda Wilson, a regional manager in charge of helping students who are living in temporary housing in Queens, as one of the employees who misused the funds. She is accused of taking her own children on trips funded by the budget (that’s taxpayer dollars), and of encouraging coworkers under her watch to do the same thing.
One staff member apparently said that Wilson stated, “What happens here stays with us.”
How did she do it? The report says Wilson forged permission slips in the names of students who were rightfully supposed to be taken on trips. She also used an outside firm to book the vacations instead of following protocol and booking them through the Department of Education. Wilson apparently believed her actions would get less scrutiny if she went through outside “community-based organizations” to arrange the travel.
Officials got suspicious when a whistleblower complained about the misdirection of funds, so the department started investigating in May, 2019. The investigation wrapped up in January, 2023. Why did it take so long for the final report to come to light? The special commissioner’s office told media they hold back reports “while administrative actions are pending.”
The report recommends firing Wilson and five other employees, and says the DOE should seek to be paid back for all the money these six employees appropriated.
