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NYC Department of Ed manager brought family to Disney World with funds meant for homeless children

Linda Wilson, the regional manager for the NYC Department of Education’s Queens Students in Temporary Housing, took her two daughters on city-funded excursions while encouraging her colleagues to do the same with their families, according to the SCI report released this month.

While some students were brought on these trips, investigators alleged that spots were taken up by the employees’ family members. DOE rules state that employees cannot bring family on trips even if the DOE is reimbursed.

Wilson and five other employees allegedly took their own families on trips meant for homeless students. One such trip included Disney World.  (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, File)

Wilson allegedly skirted the rules by "forging permission slips in the names of students," the report said. 

The city-funded trips were meant to be for disadvantaged students. (iStock)

In 2018, Wilson learned that someone told others within the DOE of their actions, the report says, prompting her to cancel a visit to Philadelphia. She then allegedly told her colleagues, "What happens here stays with us."

Investigators allege that Wilson forged permission slips with the names of students so that she and other colleagues could bring their own families on the trips. (iStock)

Workers have blamed Wilson for telling staff that they could bring family on these trips, with one employee telling the Post that Wilson instructed them "to lie to investigators."

"She said everyone should stick to the same story that we did not take our children on the trip," the employee said.

The other Students in Temporary Housing workers accused of bringing family members on these trips include Program Manager Shaquieta Boyd, Family Assistant Joanne Castro, Family Assistant Mishawn Jack, Family Assistant Virgen Ramos and Community Coordinator Maria Sylvester.

The SCI completed its probe in January 2023 and recommended to Chancellor David Bank that all six employees be terminated and pay restitution to the DOE.