A group of top employees from the New York City Department of Education just took sick and twisted to a whole new level.
According to a New York Post investigative report, six government employees used “forged permission slips” to take their own kids and grandchildren to Disney World and on other city-funded trips meant for homeless and disadvantaged students.
According to a newly released report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) for NYC schools, Linda M. Wilson, a Queens supervisor of DOE’s “Students in Temporary Housing,” took her own two daughters on trips, and encouraged colleagues to take their sons, daughters and grandkids, and allegedly told them to keep quiet about the trips.
“What happens here stays with us,” Wilson allegedly told co-workers, according to the report.
“She said everyone should stick to the same story that we did not take our children on the trip,” an employee told the New York Post.
“She told us to lie to the investigators,” the employee added.
According to the report, some homeless students attended the trips, but the staffers’ kids took up valuable spots.
One DOE educator “had to beg Wilson to allow him to add two of his students” on a trip to Disney World while Wilson and several staffers she supervised brought family members, the SCI report said.
“Taking money meant for homeless students is extremely inappropriate,” said Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan public school parent and member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy who advocates for students in need of housing. “I’m shocked.”
Per the SCI report, family members are not allowed on field trips of any kind, even if the DOE is reimbursed for their expenses, chancellor’s rules state.
Wilson and other staffers used the names of homeless students to forge permission slips, then forged parent signatures on the paperwork, witnesses told SCI investigators.
“Few of the homeless students listed on the paperwork actually attended the trips,” a whistleblower told the SCI.
According to the investigation, the city paid for the trips with a $300,000 federal grant from the National Center for Homeless Education meant to give kids enrichment and incentives to improve their attendance or academics.
The report stated that Wilson supervised about 20 staffers who worked with students in temporary housing, defined as those living in a shelter, car, park or abandoned building.
The initiative was imperative as roughly one in nine kids enrolled in NYC public schools experienced homelessness, according to Advocates for Children of New York.
According to the SCI report, Wilson, whose last salary was $99,726, brought one or two of her daughters on trips.
Other staffers accused of bringing family members are Mishawn Jack, who took two daughters; Shaquieta Boyd, who took a daughter; Virgen Ramos, who took two granddaughters; Maria Sylvester, who took two daughters; and Joanne Castro, who took two sons.
Boyd was fired, but blamed Wilson: “The supervisor in charge not only gave me permission, she encouraged it, and I had no reason to believe that this was against the rules.”
After completing its probe in January 2023, the SCI recommended Chancellor David Banks terminate all six employees and require them to pay restitution, with the amounts to be determined by the DOE.
According to the New York Post, Wilson denied that her daughters attended trips and that she allowed staff to bring their own children. She insisted that DOE’s “checks and balances” would have prevented such abuses, and called the SCI probe “a witch hunt.”