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NYC School Officials Took Their Own Kids to Disney on Trips Meant for Homeless Students
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| A composite image highlights allegations against New York City Department of Education staffers, who are accused of taking their own family members on Disney trips that were meant for homeless students. The image features Cinderella's castle at Disney World on the left, while the upper right shows Mishawn Jack lounging on a beach in a green bathing suit with a straw hat covering her eyes. In the lower right, Shaquieta Boyd is pictured looking directly at the camera. |
Six Department of Education employees allegedly used forged permission slips to bring their own children and grandchildren on city-funded trips intended for homeless students, investigators revealed.
These unauthorized perks deprived some of the city's most disadvantaged children of the chance to experience Disney World—a trip that cost $66,000 for around 50 adults and children, according to a staff member. In addition to Disney, the employees also joined other multi-day trips from 2016 to 2019 to destinations such as Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Boston; the Rocking Horse Ranch Resort in upstate New York; and Frost Valley YMCA campground, as detailed in a newly released report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools.
Linda M. Wilson, a supervisor in Queens for the Department of Education's "Students in Temporary Housing" program, was named in the report for taking her two daughters on the trips. She also encouraged her colleagues to bring their own children and grandchildren but attempted to cover up the misconduct once investigators began looking into the matter, according to the SCI report.
“What happens here stays with us,” Wilson allegedly told her co-workers, encouraging them to cover up their actions.
“She told us to all stick to the same story—that we didn’t bring our children on the trips,” one employee told The Post. “She instructed us to lie to the investigators.”
While some homeless students did attend the trips, the staffers’ children took up valuable spots. According to the Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI), one DOE educator had to "beg Wilson" to allow two of his students to join the Disney World trip, while Wilson and several staffers she supervised brought their own family members.
“Taking money meant for homeless students is extremely inappropriate,” said Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan public-school parent and member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, who advocates for students in need of housing. “I’m shocked.”
According to Chancellor’s rules, family members are prohibited from attending field trips, even if the DOE is reimbursed for their expenses. Investigators were told that Wilson and other staffers fabricated permission slips using the names of homeless students and forged parent signatures on the paperwork.
“Few of the homeless students listed on the paperwork actually attended the trips,” a whistleblower told the SCI.
Initially, Wilson used a DOE contractor to arrange transportation, hotels, meals, and activities for the trips. These excursions were funded by a $300,000 federal grant from the National Center for Homeless Education, intended to provide enrichment and incentives to boost attendance and academic performance for homeless students.
Wilson oversaw around 20 staff members who worked with students in temporary housing, which includes children living in shelters, cars, parks, or abandoned buildings.
According to Advocates for Children of New York, a record 119,320 NYC students—approximately one in nine public school enrollees—experienced homelessness last year.
Most of the out-of-town trips included four to six staff members as chaperones, with one or two buses transporting around 30 children each, as outlined in the SCI report.
The cost of buses for each trip was approximately $2,700, according to a staff member. For the Disney trip, attendees traveled by train.
Wilson personally decided which staff members could attend the trips, assigning homeless students to each staff member to chaperone. However, she would then replace the students' spots with her colleagues' children, the Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) reported.
In 2019, Wilson also organized trips to colleges, including a visit to Howard University in Washington, D.C., under the pretense of giving homeless students the opportunity to tour campuses.
However, according to the SCI, Wilson did not contact the colleges to arrange the visits.
During a three-day trip supposedly to tour Syracuse University in June 2018, the DOE group only had lunch on the upstate campus, as reported. They then traveled over three hours away to Niagara Falls instead of spending additional time at the university.
After organizing numerous trips, Wilson abruptly canceled a planned visit to Philadelphia in 2018 when she was instructed to process payments through the DOE directly rather than using a contractor.
Wilson, who last earned a salary of $99,726, reportedly brought one or two of her daughters on trips, according to the SCI.
Other staff members accused of bringing family include Mishawn Jack, who brought two daughters; Shaquieta Boyd, who brought a daughter; Virgen Ramos, who brought two granddaughters; Maria Sylvester, who brought two daughters; and Joanne Castro, who brought two sons.
Boyd was dismissed but placed the blame on Wilson, stating, “The supervisor in charge not only gave me permission but also encouraged it, and I had no reason to believe this was against the rules.”
Following its investigation, completed in January 2023, the SCI recommended that Chancellor David Banks terminate all six employees and require them to make restitution, with the amounts to be determined by the DOE.
The Department of Education (DOE) terminated attendance teacher Mishawn Jack on September 5, 2023, according to records.
In a settlement with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) last month, Jack admitted to using slots intended for homeless children to take her two daughters to the Broadway show “Wicked” and on a trip to Washington, D.C. in 2016—trips she was supposed to chaperone. Jack agreed to pay a $1,200 fine, reduced from the original $3,000, which reflected the approximate cost of the trips. The reduction was granted due to her financial hardship following her job loss.
Jack also attributed the misuse of the perks to Wilson, claiming that Wilson had told staff they could bring family members, according to the COIB settlement.
Reached this week, Wilson denied that her daughters attended any trips or that she permitted staff to bring their children. She asserted that the DOE’s “checks and balances” would have prevented such abuses and described the SCI investigation as “a witch hunt.”
Wilson, 63, stated that she did not face termination but retired from the DOE.
The DOE did not disclose whether any further disciplinary actions or restitution were taken. “All staff identified in this report are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools,” said spokeswoman Jenna Lyle.
The SCI chose not to pursue criminal charges, citing “the lack of available documentation,” according to a spokesperson.
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