Ghost Teachers Exposed by NBC Philadelphia

The ghost teaching phenomenon is continuing to garner major media coverage—this time, a multi-part NBC10 Philadelphia investigation.

Investigative reporter Mitch Blacher gets to the bottom of union work on school time and exposes some of the most egregious offenders. 

  • In Philadelphia, up to 63 district employees can leave the classroom to work for the union.
  • In Allentown, as hundreds of teachers were laid off, the district continued paying the full-time union president. 

Blacher reports that more than 100 school districts in Pennsylvania let teachers leave the classroom to work for the union. 

This excellent exposé includes input from CF senior policy analyst James Paul as well as a discussion by the Fairness Center’s David Osborne on legal cases challenging ghost teaching.

Watch the full report and see how Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan—a ghost teacher himself—responded when asked about the unfair practice. 

Are there ghost teachers in your school district? Find out here.