NYC School Staffers Took Disney Trips Earmarked For Homeless Kids
This is just infuriating. Taking money that was meant for homeless kids to have this experience? If I were a NYC taxpayer, I'd be raising hell. Via the Washington Post:
Money that was supposed to fund educational trips for children without homes actually paid for the vacations of New York City schools staffers and their families, including a visit to Disney World, according to a recently released investigative report.
Investigators recommended firing employees after finding that the head of the Queens Students in Temporary Housing (STH) program, which is meant to reward hardworking unhoused students with educational trips, was telling her staff that they could bring their families instead. (Temporary housing status is for students living in shelters, cars, parks or abandoned buildings, according to the New York City Public Schools website.)
Staff members’ families weren’t joining the trips under a misunderstanding of the rules, independent investigators wrote. In one instance, STH Queens regional manager Linda Wilson allegedly told her staff: “What happens here stays with us.” She denies saying it.
I don't even know what to say. Who does that?
Jenna Lyle, a spokeswoman for the city’s Education Department, said in a statement Tuesday that the behavior described in the report was “unacceptable” and that all staff members identified in the document “are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools.”