‘A new kind of evil’: NYC educators took their own children on grant-funded trips meant for houseless children

At least six New York City Department of Education (DOE) workers have been accused of taking their own children on grant-funded excursions meant for houseless children.

The incident occurred between 2016 and 2019, with an investigation into the scandal concluding in January of 2023. However, details of the investigation were only made public on September 9, 2024, in a report from the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District. According to the report, the city designated a $300,000 federal grant from the National Center for Homeless Education to fund and organize trips for students living in shelters or other temporary housing. The trips were supposed to be part of an enrichment program, giving students in temporary housing opportunities they may not otherwise have to visit major cities and tour colleges across the country.

However, a regional manager for the NYC DOE allegedly hatched a plan to steal spots intended for houseless children and give them to DOE staffers’ children instead.

DOE staffers forged permission slips to bring their own children on trips

Linda Wilson, the regional manager of Queens Students in Temporary Housing, started organizing trips for the students she oversaw. From 2016 to 2019, she organized trips to places like Disney World, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. The trips were supposed to have educational value or allow students to tour prominent colleges. Instead, Wilson and several other employees began taking their own children on the trips and going to nearby tourist attractions. The DOE had strict rules prohibiting staff from taking their family members on these grant-funded trips, even if they were to reimburse the DOE for the expenses.

However, Wilson managed to get around the DOE oversight by forging permission slips and booking the trips through a vendor outside the department. She allegedly would use the names of actual houseless students for permission slips, forging the parents’ signatures and then sending her two daughters or children of staff members in those students’ places. So, many houseless children listed as attending these trips never actually got to take them.

Although each trip would include some houseless children, the staffers’ children would take up valuable spots and enjoy the grant-funded transportation, lodging, meals, and activities. On a trip to Disney World, four staffers brought their children along in place of houseless students.

Wilson occasionally got approval for the trips by claiming they were intended to be college tours but then wouldn’t even notify the colleges of the alleged tours. For example, in 2018, she allegedly took a group of students, including at least one of her daughters, to tour Syracuse University. Instead of an actual tour, the children simply ate lunch at the college and then went on an excursion to Niagara Falls. However, Wilson wasn’t the only one involved in the scandal. She’s accused of encouraging the employees under her supervision to do the same but warned them against getting caught, telling them, “What happens here stays with us.”

The investigation started in 2019 after a whistleblower lodged a complaint. However, there were some suspicious signs before then, as one educator told investigators he had to beg Wilson for spots on trips for his students. Additionally, in 2018, Wilson abruptly canceled a planned trip to Philadelphia when told she had to book it through the DOE. The investigation recommended that all six staff members in the scandal be terminated and that they be ordered to reimburse the school. As of today, none of the staff members involved are employed by the NYC DOE, although Wilson stated that she retired and was not terminated. She also denied all the allegations, claiming the investigation was a “witch hunt” and that the DOE oversight was too strong to allow for such fraud.

Those reacting to the investigation have expressed shock that the alleged perpetrators aren’t facing criminal charges, given that they stole federal funds and could be accused of fraud and embezzlement. Some Redditors have described the scandal as a “new kind of evil” and the work of “straight sociopaths.”

One of the most shocking aspects of the scandal is that the employees involved in it made good wages. Wilson’s salary was reportedly just shy of $100,000 annually. She worked firsthand with students who lived in shelters, cars, and abandoned buildings yet still decided to steal what may have been the only opportunity for some of them to tour their dream colleges or experience Disney World. It’s a level of heartlessness and corruption that’s hard to fathom.