School Workers' Families Took Disney Trip Meant for Homeless Students

[marble falls]

School Workers’ Families Took Disney Trip Meant for Homeless Students

New York City school employees took their children or grandchildren to Disney World and other places through a program intended for homeless students, investigators found.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/nyregion/ny-schools-disney-homeless-students.html

Disney World was among the places to which New York City Department of Education employees traveled by exploiting a grant-funded program, an inquiry found.

By Ed Shanahan
Sept. 17, 2024



-snip-

Ms. Wilson and others forged the signatures of homeless students’ parents as part of the scheme, and she used a nonprofit organization to arrange the trips to evade Department of Education oversight, the report says.

“Few of the homeless students listed on the trip paperwork actually attended the trips,” the report says, although at least in the case of the Disney World trip, some homeless students did attend. One person interviewed by investigators told them “he had to beg” Ms. Wilson to allow him to add two of his students to the trip, the report says.

-snip-

Still, Ms. Lyle said, “this kind of behavior is unacceptable, and all staff identified in this report are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools.” The department has taken steps to prevent such misconduct in the future, she added.

-snip-

Several of the trips were supposed to be college tours, but the students and those accompanying them never visited the campuses, according to the report. In one instance, the report says, a group that included Ms. Wilson and one of her daughters ate lunch at Syracuse University in June 2018 but did not tour the school and traveled to Niagara Falls instead.

-snip-

Ed Shanahan is a rewrite reporter and editor covering breaking news and general assignments on the Metro desk. More about Ed Shanahan



The whole article is eye-opening.

[Freethinker65]

1. Repay the value of the trips to the fund PLUS a stiff penalty.

All school employees involved should be fired and denied pensions.

I also think public shaming of parents accepting the trips, knowing their families did not qualify, is warranted.

[marble falls]

2. All the employees involved have been let go.

[Freethinker65]

3. I read that after I posted. Being "let go" is not enough.

[marble falls]

4. It's not over at all. There is an investigation and law enforcement is involved.

[kcr]

11. Good

Hopefully there will be criminal charges.

[lpbk2713]

5. Steal from the poor ... Robin Hood in reverse.

I hope they make restitution to every last penny.

[twodogsbarking]

6. How low can people go and still live with themselves? Good grief.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Glad They Were Canned

They deserve that and more. Isn't this grand larceny?

[wnylib]

8. This kind of thing is more common than people think.

Employees at organizations that are supposed to serve people in need or in a crisis often consider using the organization for themselves as one of the perks of the job.

Because of volunteer and sometimes paid work that I've done for a few organizations, I know of more than one case, but I'll only describe one.

It was an organization that served women in crisis who needed a place to stay. Some had left abusive husbands or boyfriends. One was a 17 year old whose parents threw her out of the house when they discovered that she was pregnant. A couple young women were fresh out of alcohol rehab and needed a place to stay until they got on their feet..

It was not a safe house for abused women because it was located in a building that was open to the public for other services, but the director billed it as a safe house in order to get grants. I don't know what she did with the grant money. They did not have a counselor or trained legal advocates which are necessary in an abuse shelter. The housing was not secret or secured like a safe house would be. So that was the first grift that I noticed.

Then, during a really bad freezing spell in the winter, the women said that their rooms were cold and they asked if there were extra blankets. The director of the program gave me the task of calling around to local stores for donations of blankets and towels.

I called several chain department stores, some of which are not in business now. I also called Sears and JC Penneys. We received loads of very good quality sheets, blankets, towels and washcloths, plus things I had not asked for, like toothbrushes, sample and full size toothpaste, hair spray, soaps, and deodorant. One store called back to ask if we could use clothing donations. I was very impressed with the generosity of the stores

All the items were delivered within 24 to 48 hours to the director's office and stacked there. When I went into the office for some blankets to distribute, the director and her assistant were sorting through everything for items to take home for themselves. The director said that the quality was too good for the residents of the program who would not appreciate them so we could take anything that we wanted. She and her assistant had their own pile of sheets, blankets, and towels.

They told me to pick out what I wanted. They were covering their own butts because, if I took things too, I'd be unable to report what they did. I declined. The director told me to wait until the next day to distribute the blankets. I could give out what was left. But the next day, there was hardly anything remaining except the toiletries.

I quit doing work for them. Did not want any part of the sham. I contacted a person who was in charge of oversight and budgeting for the organization. She did not want to deal with what I told her because it would hurt their public image. Also, if they lost the director and her assistant, there was nobody to take their place. She strongly advised me to tell no one or I would be implicated by her and the director.

[chouchou]

9. Oh Brother. Your post sadly shows how disgustingly some humans can go down to a horrible reality.

I certainly don't blame you for not going any further, regarding their actions.
I could hear it now "She was the one that started all the stealing and now, she's trying to pin it on us"

[wnylib]

10. Plus I was the one who made the phone calls asking for donations.

What really angered me about the whole set up, besides being used, was the fact that the women who resided at that place were down and out, with very few financial resources. The director and her assistant had good salaries. They could easily have bought those items for themselves instead of stealing donations from people who had almost nothing. The women residents continued to freeze at night while the director and her assistant enjoyed the warmth of the blankets in their comfortable homes.