DETROIT - The "ghost employees" that may be drawing paychecks from Detroit Public Schools probably aren't teachers, according to the union president, because they apparently aren't paying union dues, TV20 Detroit reported.
Following a suspicious audit, the school district recently asked all 13,000 of its employees to pick up their paychecks in person, the report said, but 257 didn't show up. Now school officials will investigate the names of no-shows to determine if they are legitimate employees.
"Most of these I would suspect are not teachers because we get a payroll report every two weeks and one of the things we do it match up that payroll report with those members who are paying dues," Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson told TV20.
The amount paid to alleged "ghosts" is about $200,000, the station reported.
SOURCE:
TV20 Detroit, "Ghost teachers," June 25, 2009
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Layoffs, closings and philanthropy at DPS," April 9, 2009
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