New York City school employees 'take family on Disneyland trips' meant for homeless students

Six New York City public school employees have been caught taking their own children on jaunts to Disney World , all with money meant for homeless students' educational trips .

Anastasia Coleman, the special commissioner of investigation for NYC schools, revealed that these excursions, supposed to benefit students in temporary housing, also included visits to DC, Boston and New Orleans.

Trips to Broadway shows had also been taken. The scandal came to light in a report released this month. The report alleges that Linda Wilson, the Queens regional manager for the office aiding students in temporary housing, took her children on grant-funded trips and urged her staff to follow suit but to keep it under wraps.

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"What happens here stays with us," Wilson reportedly instructed her team.

The probe was triggered by a whistleblower complaint in March 2019, scrutinizing outings from 2016 to 2019. Although the investigation wrapped up in January 2023, details only emerged publicly in early September.

Wilson is accused of faking permission slips for her relatives' participation and sidestepping city Department of Education checks by booking through an external agency .

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Some of the journeys were meant to be college tours , but according to witnesses, the students and their supervisors never actually visited the campuses.

Witnesses reported that during a June 2018 trip, a group including Wilson, one of her daughters, and other staff members and their children had lunch at Syracuse University but did not tour the institution .

Instead, they visited Niagara Falls, according to the investigation.

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