For city teacher, an unforgettable day

It's official - Overbrook High School is the first Philadelphia school to receive a shout-out from President Obama, and Bonnee Breese is the first city teacher to ask the new president questions at the White House.

That double dose of history unfolded yesterday in Washington during "Open for Questions," Obama's first-ever online town- hall meeting.

The president answered the most popular questions based on more than 3.6 million people voting on 104,053 questions submitted to WhiteHouse.gov.

But he also took questions from the roughly 100 citizens from all walks of life who were invited to the East Room of the White House.

Breese, an Overbrook English and public-speaking teacher, was among those guests, recommended to the White House by her union.

"My heart was beating fast just knowing that I was in the center of American history. I was telling myself to breathe, breathe, breathe!" Breese gushed after returning home by train last night.

Near the end of the hour-and-a-half event Breese raised her hand for the microphone. She wanted Obama to give his definition of charter schools and effective teachers, and if he would consult with teachers as he develops education policy.

But first, she told the president that she was from Overbrook High and that all her children were watching in class via the Web.

"All right, hello, Overbrook! There you go," Obama said, drawing laughter and applause from the audience.

On the train ride home Breese called the school and learned that her students went wild at that moment.

As for his answers to Breese's questions, Obama told her that he is supportive of effective charter schools, that he believes teacher performance should be measured by more than standardized tests and that, yes, he will be listening to teachers' concerns.

"[I]f we don't have teacher buy-in, if they're not enthusiastic about the reforms that we are initiating, then, ultimately, they're not going to work. So we've got to have teacher participation in developing these approaches," Obama told Breese.

"I was really proud that he said he was willing to take us to the table with him, because for so long people outside of education have made the decisions about education," said Breese, who attends professional-development programs at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania.

"I really like him. When he answered the questions he looked right into my eyes and I believed him," added the 15-year teaching veteran. "I didn't feel that he was telling me something for the moment or just for the cameras." *