An Iowa teaching assistant has lost both her job and her bid for unemployment benefits after school officials said she shared adult film content with a co-worker during the workday.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, Patricia Pike, a full-time paraeducator at Lewis Central Middle School in Council Bluffs, was fired last fall after administrators said she used her cellphone in class to show nude photos from the subscription platform OnlyFans.
State records show the incident happened on October 6, 2025, after students had already left for the day but before employees were dismissed. Lewis Central officials said Pike was inside a classroom using her personal phone when she opened images of nude men from the site and showed them to at least one colleague.
Another employee later reported the incident to Principal Mandie Reynolds, prompting an immediate meeting with Pike.
The case lands at the center of a larger national conversation about teachers, adult film platforms, and financial pressure in education. OnlyFans has become a headline-grabbing side hustle for a small number of teachers in recent years, particularly in states where educator pay has struggled to keep up with the cost of living.
In Pike’s case, administrators said she admitted to showing the images during the meeting with Reynolds. According to school records, Pike told administrators, “I guess you just don’t know who you can trust,” before adding, “I could tell on others, but I am not going to do that.”
The district fired her the same day, citing both the adult film content and a separate policy banning personal cellphone use during the workday, even after students have left the building.
After her termination, Pike applied for unemployment benefits, but the Lewis Central district challenged the request. Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth Johnson ultimately sided with the district, ruling that Pike’s actions amounted to workplace misconduct.
In her decision, Johnson wrote that the district “presented credible testimony” that Pike showed nude images to a co-worker while at work. Johnson also noted that Pike had previously been warned about using her cellphone for personal reasons on the job.
The ruling comes as more teachers across the country say they are turning to side jobs, including work in adult film, to offset low wages and student loan debt. According to NBC Los Angeles, national education groups say teacher pay has fallen behind inflation for years, leaving many educators searching for additional income.
