Education advocates are urging authorities to consider federal criminal charges against six New York City employees who took their children and grandchildren to Disney World and other expensive trips for homeless students.
“This appears to be a criminal use of federal funds intended for homeless students, involving forgery and fraud,” said Leonie Heimson, executive director of Class Size Matters.
As first reported by The Washington Post, Linda M. Wilson, a manager of Students in Temporary Housing in Queens, and five employees she supervised, used “fake permits” to take her daughter, son and grandchildren to multiple locations, including the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Washington, D.C., New Orleans and the Rocking Horse Ranch resort in upstate New York.
“What happened here will stay with us,” Wilson allegedly told co-workers in what investigators are calling a cover-up.
Haimson said he wrote a letter last week to the U.S. Department of Education's inspector general, who is responsible for investigating civil and criminal violations of federal funds, asking for an investigation.
Employees said the trip was funded with a $300,000 federal grant.
The city's special investigation committee for municipal schools did not pursue criminal charges against the officials.
A spokesman cited a “lack of available documentation” as the reason.
But Haimson said, SCI Report It cites “a wealth of documentary evidence, including eyewitness testimony, dozens of photographs and forged permits.”
The city Education Department did not answer questions about the cost of out-of-city trips for homeless children or explain how they are funded.
DOE spokeswoman Nicole Brownstein also declined to say whether employees had paid compensation, but confirmed Friday that all six individuals cited by the top investigative committee “have been fired, resigned or voluntarily retired.”
Wilson, 63, was paid $97,700 in city pay last fiscal year but told The Washington Post that he is retired.
She denied taking her daughters on the trip or any other wrongdoing.
