Going to Walt Disney World is a right of passage for any kid. You always remember your first time passing under the train tracks at the Magic Kingdom, coming around the corner, and seeing Cinderella Castle for the first time.
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Sadly, the experience of going to Disney World is out of reach for many children in America. As Walt Disney World gets more expensive, those who used to be able to afford a few days in Central Florida no longer can afford it.
The experience is even further out of reach for the 2.5 million homeless kids and 500,000 children living in temporary housing in America. However, a series of grants given to homeless students in New York City were meant to rectify that situation and provide these students with a once-in-a-lifetime Disney World experience.
Those grants, however, never made it to the homeless students they were meant for. Instead, six people who worked for the New York City Department of Education are accused of using the money to pay for trips to Walt Disney World, New Orleans, and other destinations for themselves and their family members.
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According to a special commission report for the New York City Department of Education, Linda Wilson, the Queen regional manager for the office that supports students in temporary housing, used the grant money to take her children on trips and encouraged her staff to do the same, as long as they kept quiet about it.
Wilson avoided detection by New York City schools by forging permission slips and using outside agencies to book her travel. Her travel occurred between 2016 and 2019, but the report was only available this week.
The New York City Department of Education told the Associated Press that New York City schools no longer employ all six staff members mentioned in the report. The report recommended that all six staff members be fired and that the district funds used for their travel be repaid.
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For her part, Linda Wilson called the investigation a “witch hunt.” Wilson also said that she had retired from New York City schools and had not been fired.
Investigators said that Wilson and her fellow staff members used the funds for college tours, including one at Syracuse University, but never visited the schools. Instead, they used the college tours as an excuse for other vacation opportunities.
A Disney World trip can be an experience of a lifetime, but for the homeless students in New York City, that opportunity was literally stolen away from them.
What should happen to the people who stole money meant for homeless kids to go to Disney World?
The post Homeless Children Robbed of Once-In-A-Lifetime Trip to Disney World appeared first on Inside the Magic.
