After an identity hoax, one Philly educators’ group dissolves and another goes on hiatus

After being duped by Hannah Gann, one organization closely affiliated with the Philadelphia School District teacher and activist is dissolving, and another is on a two-month hiatus pending a decision about its future.

The moves come after Gann admitted she lied for years about her identity, claiming at times to be Palestinian, Tunisian, and Black — devastating both groups and drawing national attention to her deception. Gann recently admitted to being a white, Jewish woman, with relatives who she said were Israeli settlers.

“After much reflection, Philly Educators for Palestine has made the decision to dissolve,” a statement read. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated, supported, organized, learned, taught, and stood alongside us. We are proud of what we accomplished together and of the community that was built through this work.”

The group, which was not affiliated with the Philadelphia School District but whose members taught in the district, began in early 2024, after charter members, including Gann, organized a “teach-in” about Palestinian history and the conflict in Gaza.

The Racial Justice Organizing Committee, established as an independent group in 2020, is “taking a two-month hiatus to rest, process, and decompress,” the joint statement said. “A decision regarding its future and next steps will be shared by the end of the year.”

Gann’s deception was publicized by both groups earlier this month. The organizations’ members were “stunned, saddened, and angered by this betrayal,” they said at the time.

Gann, in a 10-minute video released after the groups revealed her yearslong hoax, said that she “allowed half-truths and obfuscations to grow into outright lies,” but that she “genuinely wanted to commit to the work I was doing in spite of those lies.”

She has said in a social media post that she was “so, so sorry. It’s so far from being enough, but I don’t know what else to say.”

Most of the teachers and activists who organized with Gann have asked for privacy as they sort through the complicated “why” around her deception.

But one organizer, furious at the damage done by Gann, shared details around Gann’s deception with The Inquirer. The activist asked that her name not be used because she feared reprisal from the community.

Gann sought her out, deliberately befriending her, the organizer said.

At times, the organizer said, Gann was “a little ambiguous” about her background.

“She has moments when she tries to ask extra Black, like cosplaying Black,” the organizer said. Gann often wore African print clothing and large earrings, and used African American Vernacular English. “She told people she was mixed. She told someone she was Lebanese.”

But Gann seemed to act differently around different people, slipping on different identities as they suited her.

Gann once talked about having attended an international school in Virginia, the organizer recalled. When the organizer asked Gann how her family, who Gann said had few resources, managed that, “she said, ‘I just used my grandmother’s address; you know how we do.’”

And though it was not a secret that Gann attended the University of Pennsylvania, “she never ever talked about that stuff with me,” the organizer said. “She would always gloss over the Ivy League.”

In some ways, Gann “was such a good friend; she’d do anything for you,” the organizer said — cook a dish, do a favor, show up when you needed her.

But Gann also did things that, in hindsight, give the organizer pause.

“She is intricately involved in teenagers’ lives, and that is very, very concerning to me,” the organizer said. “I’ve seen kids stay at her house because they got kicked out. I’ve seen her going to kids’ parties as a chaperone.”

Members of the Racial Justice Organizing Coalition and the former Philly Educators for Palestine said in a statement they believed Gann, who teaches at the Workshop School, a project-based district high school, deserved consequences from her employer for her actions.

A school district spokesperson said that the district cannot comment on personnel matters, but that support is being provided for any Workshop student or adult who needs it.

The organizer agrees with the call from the Racial Justice Organizing Coalition and former Philly Educators for Palestine group for consequences.

“I think Hannah should get fired,” the organizer said. “This has got to be so traumatizing for those kids. This is a group of kids that don’t trust adults anyway, living in Philly at this time. And they had an adult they thought they could trust, and she was lying about something so fundamental.”

The organizer feels deeply personally duped, too.

“She was trying to get my perspective as a Black woman, and she was white that whole time,” the organizer said. “It was disgusting. The emotional labor that she has utilized from me is so unbelievable — I can never get that time back, I can never get that trust back. I will never speak to her again in my life.”

Gann’s actions had troubled some Jewish families in the district long before her deception came to light.

Adina Pollak, a spokesperson for the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, said families in the district began raising concerns about Gann to the organization three years ago.

“The communities whose identities and experiences she misrepresented were wronged by that deception and deserve honesty and respect,” Pollak said in a statement.

Gann’s admission that she lied about her identity “also raises serious questions about her conduct as a teacher,” Pollak said in a statement.

“Ms. Gann taught and spoke publicly about Israel and Palestinians while invoking a personal identity and lived experience she now acknowledges were not her own. She testified before the Board of Education as a Palestinian teacher, speaking about ‘our homeland’ and ‘my family living in a war zone.’”

Black, Palestinian, and Tunisian communities “deserve to have their identities and experiences treated with honesty and respect,” Pollak said. “Jewish students also deserve a classroom where they can be fully themselves, without feeling singled out or ashamed of their Jewish identity or their personal or familial connection to Israel.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia in 2024 filed a complaint against Keziah Ridgeway, another Philadelphia teacher, accusing Ridgeway of injecting antisemitism into the curriculum and using her personal social media posts to threaten some Jewish parents.

Ridgeway was ultimately kept out of the classroom for a year before she was reassigned to a new school. She has sued the district, alleging anti-Islamic bias. The suit is still pending.

Gann was a staunch defender of Ridgeway, who posted on social media that she confronted Gann when her lies came to light.

“I can no longer be in community with someone who caused so much harm,” Ridgeway wrote. “I hope that she gets the help that she needs.”