Investigators alleged that six Department of Education employees used “forged permission slips” to take their children and grandchildren to Disney World and other city-funded trips for homeless students.
Secret facilities robbed some people in the city the most disadvantaged children The chance to enjoy the Magic Kingdom — a trip that cost $66,000 for 50 or more adults and children, an employee said — and other multiple-day trips to Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Boston; upstate Rocking Horse Ranch Resort; and Frost Valley YMCA Campground from 2016 to 2019, according to a recent report released by the special commissioner of investigations for the city schools.
Linda M. Wilson, the Queens supervisor of the DOE's “Students in Temporary Housing,” took her two daughters on the trip, and encouraged colleagues to take their sons, daughters, and grandchildren along as well, but tried to hide the questionable practice when SCI began asking questions. SCI Report Said.
Wilson reportedly told co-workers, “Whatever happens here, stays with us.”
“They said everyone should stick to the same thing: that we didn’t take our kids on the trip,” one employee told the Post.
“He told us to lie to the investigators.”
Though some homeless students also joined the trip, children of employees took up valuable seats.
SCI said one DOE teacher “had to beg Wilson to allow her to include two of her students” on a trip to Disney World, while Wilson and several staff members working under his supervision brought along family members.
“Taking away money that’s earmarked for homeless students is extremely unfair,” said Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan public school parent and member of the city’s educational policy panel who advocates for students in need of housing. “I’m shocked.”
According to the Chancellor's rules, family members are not permitted to go on field trips, even if the DOE is reimbursed for their expenses.
Witnesses told investigators that Wilson and other staff used the names of homeless students to create permission letters, then forged their parents' signatures on the papers.
“Only a few of the homeless students listed on the papers actually attended the trips,” one whistleblower told SCI.
At first, Wilson used a DOE contractor to book transportation, hotels, meals and activities.
The city paid for the trips with a $300,000 federal grant it received from the National Homeless Education Center, aimed at providing motivation and encouragement for children to improve their attendance or academic levels.
Wilson supervised about 20 staff members who worked with students living in temporary housing. Temporary housing was said to be students living in a shelter, car, park or abandoned building.
Last year, a record 119,320 NYC students — nearly one in nine children Enrolled in government schools-Experienced homelessness, according to Advocates for Children of New York.
The SCI report said most out-of-town trips involved four to six staff members as chaperones, and there were one or two buses for about 30 children.
An employee said the bus fare alone is about $2,700 per trip. Disney-goers traveled by train.
SCI said Wilson would decide which staff members could attend the trips, assign students to each staff member, then replace the spots assigned to those students with the staff members’ children.
Wilson planned a trip to several colleges, including Washington, DC. Howard UniversityIt was launched in 2019 so that homeless children could visit the campuses.
But SCI alleges that they did not contact the colleges to arrange the visits.
On a purported three-day trip to see Syracuse University in June 2018, the DOE group ate only lunch at the upstate campus, according to the report. They then left for Niagara Falls, more than three hours away.
After planning several trips, Wilson abruptly canceled a trip to Philadelphia in 2018 when she had to process payments for the trips directly through the DOE, rather than going through a contractor.
Wilson, whose last salary was $99,726, would take one or two of her daughters on the trip, SCI said.
Other employees accused of bringing family members are Mishawn Jack, who took two of her daughters; Shaquita Boyd, who took one of her daughters; Virgen Ramos, who took two of her granddaughters; Maria Sylvestre, who took two of her daughters, and Joan Castro, who took her two sons.
Boyd was fired, but he blamed Wilson: “The supervisor in charge not only allowed me to do it, he encouraged it, and I had no reason to believe it was against the rules.”
After completing its investigation in January 2023, SCI recommended Chancellor David Banks fire all six employees and require them to pay restitution, the amount of which will be determined by the DOE.
The DOE also fired attendance teacher Mishon Jack, effective Sept. 5, 2023, according to records.
In an agreement reached with the city last month, conflict of interest boardJack admitted he used slots meant for homeless children to take his two daughters to see the Broadway show “Wicked” and on a trip to Washington, D.C., in 2016 — excursions he was hired to chaperone.
Jack agreed to pay a fine of $1,200, which the COIB reduced from the estimated cost of the trips of $3,000 due to the “financial hardship” caused by the job loss.
According to the COIB agreement, he also accused Wilson of taking perks and said he “told employees they could bring their family members along.”
Contacted this week, Wilson flatly denied that his daughters had attended the trips and that he had allowed employees to bring their children along. He insisted that DOE’s “checks and balances” could have prevented such abuses, and called the SCI investigation “a witch hunt.”
Wilson, 63, said she was not fired but rather retired from the DOE.
The DOE did not say whether anyone was disciplined or paid restitution. “All employees identified in this report are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools,” spokeswoman Jenna Lyle said.
A spokesperson said the SCI decided not to refer the cases for criminal prosecution, citing a “lack of available documentation”.
