NYC DOE employees took families on Disney World trip meant for homeless students, investigator says

NEW YORK - A New York City Department of Education regional manager and members of her staff took family members on trips meant for homeless students, an investigator said Monday. 

The destinations included Disney World, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, among other locations, and allegedly took place from 2016-2019.

Special Commissioner of Investigation of New York City Schools Anastasia Coleman said, following an investigation, her office concluded regional manager of Queens Students in Temporary Housing Linda Wilson brought her family members on trips, and let other staffers bring members of their families, as well. They did so by allegedly forging permissions slips in students' names. The trips were funded by grants intended to help homeless students, Coleman said.   

DOE regulations require all trips to have an educational component and valid permissions slips. Regulations also state that no family members of DOE staff can attend the trips, even if the DOE is reimbursed. 

Investigators allege that Wilson used an outside vendor to book the trips because there would be less scrutiny on the vendor than if she had booked the trips through the DOE. 

Wilson allegedly claimed some of the trips were intended to give the homeless students a chance to visit colleges, but investigators said they were told those formal visits didn't happen, and colleges weren't officially notified of them. For example, on one visit in 2018, they allegedly claimed they were touring Syracuse University, but instead just ate lunch there, and then went to Niagara Falls.

In her letter to Schools Chancellor David Banks, Coleman called for Wilson and five of her colleagues to be fired.