DOE Employees Took Their Kids On Trips Meant For NYC Homeless Students

NEW YORK CITY — Six Department of Education employees took their families to Disney World and other trips that were meant for homeless students in New York City public schools, according to a district special commissioner.

Linda Wilson, the regional manager of DOE's “Students in Temporary Housing,” admitted to taking her own daughters on several trips and encouraged colleagues to do the same, according to a special commissioner report.

“What happens here stays with us,” Wilson told her colleagues after she found out someone told DOE about the trips.

Wilson had organized trips to locations such as Disney World in Florida, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans and would forge permission slips in the names of students.

Some trips were intended to give homeless students opportunities to visit college campuses, according to the report.

Wilson supervised about 20 employees. Most of the trips included four to six colleagues who acted as chaperones, and one or two buses for about 30 kids each, according to the report.

The initial investigation began in May 2019 after the DOE received a whistleblower complaint about the alleged trips. Officials concluded their investigation in Jan. 2023.

The report recommended that Wilson and the five other employees be terminated and should "seek reimbursement for all expenses incurred by the DOE on the part of those who wrongly benefitted from these actions."

It is unclear what is the current employment status of the six DOE staff members.