Phila. teachers witness Obama's Rose Garden speech on jobs

As President Obama urged Congress to act quickly on his American Jobs Act on Monday, two Philadelphia teachers provided witness to the plight of public education.

Philadelphia music teacher Jason Chuong, who teaches instrumental music at seven public schools in the city, stood just inches away from the president during his Rose Garden speech.

Michael Farrell, a laid-off Philadelphia School District teacher now an apprentice assistant principal at Mastery Charter School-Harrity, was in the front row.

In its current form, the legislation would put recently unemployed teachers, police, and firefighters back to work.

Though the Philadelphia School District laid off about 2,700 employees in June, Chuong, with three years' experience, was spared. Farrell, who taught special education at Science Leadership Academy, lost his job.

Chuong, 24, was selected by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to travel to the White House.

"An administrator should never have to think about whether they're going to have to cut the art teacher or the music teacher or the Spanish teacher," Chuong said. "I hope this Jobs Act would prevent a principal from having to make that decision."

Chuong knows about tight budgets. His out-of-pocket budget is $100 a year between all seven schools.

Trained as a drummer himself, Chuong has created multiple bucket drum ensembles in city schools, fashioning percussion instruments from inexpensive plastic buckets turned upside down.

The Washington experience was exciting and surreal, Chuong said.

"The president introduced himself and thanked me for the work that I do with teaching, which was nice," Chuong said. "I shook his hand and thanked him for being the president."

Farrell, 26, was recommended by a former colleague who is a U.S. Department of Education teaching ambassador fellow. Farrell had a chance to ask Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about the bill during a roundtable later at U.S. Department of Education headquarters.

"We want to make sure that money doesn't get lost in translation, that we actually see it in schools," Farrell said.