The Washington Post July 23 featured two of the some 100 teachers who have been hired from the Philippines to teach in Maryland.

Titled "School Recruiters Turn to 'Innovative Places'," the Post published the picture of Ireneo Abadejos and Julieta Perez who it said considered themselves as among the "lucky 30" Filipino teachers hired in October as part of an experiment to help fill a big shortage in Prince Georges county. They were cited as among the foreign workers hired to keep the local economy running.

The article said:
“Filipino teachers, who are trained in their home country according to U.S. education standards, have increasingly been entering local classrooms. Prince George’s County employs 110. Another 100 will arrive in the county the first week in August. They are hired at the school system’s starting salary of $43,481, nearly ten times what teachers are paid in the Philippines.'

Perez was quoted as saying “the stark pay difference makes U.S. teaching slots coveted there.
“And the Filipino teachers are coveted by U.S. school systems, such as Prince George’s. The county has 1,000 vacancies to fill by mid-August, and it recently hired a marketing firm and launched a Web site to boost recruitment. “We’re going to continue to look forteachers in innovative places,” said Robert Gaskin, the system’s recruitment officer. Next year, the system may launch a search for bilingual teachers in Spain," said Randy Thornton, director of human resources.

Abadejos, 41, left a position as a science teacher at Ateneo de Manila, a boys’ Catholic school in the capital city, to teach physics at Suitland High School. The Post article continued: “When he arrived at Suitland, a counselor told him, ”You will be eaten alive," he said. Abadejos, who is soft-spoken, smiled. “We survived," he said. “Filipinos are very pliant. As pliant as bamboo.”
“He is now division chairman of Suitland’s physics department and last year was awarded a Who’s Who Among American Teachers certificate, which he keeps in a cushioned cover and vinyl bag.

“Perez, who is 35 and teaches special education at Oxon Hill Elementary, said she and the other Filipino teachers spent their first two years overcoming cultural challenges, such as learning the lingo. She often asked her American co-workers to translate such words as ”joning," slang for making fun of someone. “They have since caught on. Both teachers have moved their families to Maryland and are in the process of petitioning for permanent U.S. residency, which requires them to retain their jobs with the Prince George’s school system for three years.’