Former head of Mission School in Hyde Park sentenced for wire fraud
BOSTON - The former principal of a pilot school in Hyde Park will perform 160 hours of community service and pay a $25,000 fine for misusing school funds after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Naia Wilson, 60, of Mattapan, was the principal of New Mission School, an autonomous pilot school within the Boston Public School system when she used $38,806 of school funds to treat herself and her friends to a Barbados vacation.
Besides community service and a fine, Wilson was sentenced to two years of supervised release with the first 90 days to be served as in-home incarceration. She must also pay the school back the $38,806.
Wilson was the head of the school from 2006-2019. Because pilot schools are given a lump sum for each student - and the freedom to decide how the money is spent - the head of the school must request a check to be issued from the bank holding the funds. Beginning in September 2016, Wilson asked for checks to be issued to individuals, saying the money was a stipend for work done at the school. Instead, Wilson endorsed the checks to herself and deposited them into her bank account.