Yesterday, as Naia Wilson, the former Head of School at New Mission School in Hyde Park, pled guilty to engaging in a scheme that defrauded the Boston Public Schools of approximately $38,806. The school, a member of the Boston Public Schools system, represents an example of an autonomous pilot school, granted a wider range of budgetary autonomy.
Wilson, who now faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, served as Head of School for New Mission School from 2006 until approximately June 2019.
Beginning in September 2016 and continuing until May 2019, Wilson requested checks from the external fiscal agent in the names of other individuals, without their knowledge or consent, fraudulently endorsing those checks to herself and depositing them into her personal bank account.
It was revealed that Wilson also used the funds to pay for two all-inclusive personal vacations to Barbados for herself and her friends in 2016 and 2018, again issuing checks in the names of trip participants before fraudulently endorsing them.
