NEW YORK CITY, NY - New York City Department of Education workers snatched up city-paid trips to Disney World and other amusement locations- that were intended for homeless students, according to the New York Post.
The city's Special Commissioner of Investigation is accusing the bureaucrats of grabbing the trips for their own children in a report obtained by the Post.
One Queens borough supervisor for "Students in Temporary Housing" not only took her own children on the city-paid trips, but encouraged her co-workers to do the same thing, according to the report. Linda M. Wilson allegedly tried to cover up the practice when investigators began asking questions about the trips.
“What happens here stays with us," Wilson allegedly told her co-workers of the practice. Wilson even went so far as to directly encourage her co-workers to lie about their use of the trips for their own children. “She said everyone should stick to the same story that we did not take our children on the trip. She told us to lie to the investigators.”
One educator was even forced to beg to secure spots on a Disney World trips for two of his students who were actually eligible for the program- a trip in which the children of bureaucrats had already been improperly given spots, according to investigators. City staffers even went so far as to forge documents using the names of homeless students- who didn't actually go on the trips- to secure permission slips for their own children.
The program itself was funded by a $300,000 grant provided to New York City from the National Center for Homeless Education. The grant funded trips to Washington, D.C, New Orleans, Boston, Rocking Horse Ranch Resort, and the Frost Valley YMCA campground. The Disney World trip, which included roughly 50 adults and kids, clocked in at a whopping $66,000 in costs for the city.
Wilson also allegedly scheduled tours of colleges and universities, with the stated purpose of providing homeless students tours of the institutions- only to briefly stop at the schools en route to other entertainment destinations.
One staffer fired for the practice, Virgen Ramos, says that she wouldn't have engaged in the practice if not for Wilson's encouragement.
"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.”
The Department of Education confirmed that the staffers identified in the investigators' report have been separated from the Department.
“All staff identified in this report are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools," the agency stated to the Post.
Wilson maintained her innocence when contacted for statement by the Post. The former city bureaucrat states that she retired from the Department of Education, rather than having been terminated.
The city's Special Commissioner of Investigation is accusing the bureaucrats of grabbing the trips for their own children in a report obtained by the Post.
One Queens borough supervisor for "Students in Temporary Housing" not only took her own children on the city-paid trips, but encouraged her co-workers to do the same thing, according to the report. Linda M. Wilson allegedly tried to cover up the practice when investigators began asking questions about the trips.
“What happens here stays with us," Wilson allegedly told her co-workers of the practice. Wilson even went so far as to directly encourage her co-workers to lie about their use of the trips for their own children. “She said everyone should stick to the same story that we did not take our children on the trip. She told us to lie to the investigators.”
One educator was even forced to beg to secure spots on a Disney World trips for two of his students who were actually eligible for the program- a trip in which the children of bureaucrats had already been improperly given spots, according to investigators. City staffers even went so far as to forge documents using the names of homeless students- who didn't actually go on the trips- to secure permission slips for their own children.
The program itself was funded by a $300,000 grant provided to New York City from the National Center for Homeless Education. The grant funded trips to Washington, D.C, New Orleans, Boston, Rocking Horse Ranch Resort, and the Frost Valley YMCA campground. The Disney World trip, which included roughly 50 adults and kids, clocked in at a whopping $66,000 in costs for the city.
Wilson also allegedly scheduled tours of colleges and universities, with the stated purpose of providing homeless students tours of the institutions- only to briefly stop at the schools en route to other entertainment destinations.
One staffer fired for the practice, Virgen Ramos, says that she wouldn't have engaged in the practice if not for Wilson's encouragement.
"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.”
The Department of Education confirmed that the staffers identified in the investigators' report have been separated from the Department.
“All staff identified in this report are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools," the agency stated to the Post.
Wilson maintained her innocence when contacted for statement by the Post. The former city bureaucrat states that she retired from the Department of Education, rather than having been terminated.
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