Abbott Elementary – Career Day Part 1

By starrymag | February 13, 2024

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

We open with the revelation that it’s been five months since the camera crew has been at Abbott Elementary. Jacob (Chris Perfetti) notes that they got new equipment and tries not to say “I told you so,” but Ava (Janelle James) has no problem doing so. In an interview she tells us that the camera crew got robbed because walking around in West Philadelphia with expensive-looking cameras is not a good idea. Some things have changed since they were last at Abbott. For starters, it’s career day and Ava isn’t thrilled about it.

 

Later, during a meeting, Ava complains that the school district has been more annoying than usual lately. Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) says they’re not all bad. Gregory (Tyler James Williams) and Jacob don’t mind them either. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) isn’t surprised by that and Ava insists this year’s school district is more unhelpful than they’ve ever been. Janine (Quinta Brunson) walks in wearing a business suit and reveals that she works for the school district now.

 

Five months earlier it was Development Day and none of the teachers were thrilled about it. Then they go from being indifferent to feeling shocked that Ava starts the meeting without sexually harassing Gregory. She introduces Manny (Josh Segarra) from the district unproblematically as well. Then, we cut away and she shares that she went to Harvard (sort of) over the camera and got her education degree. Now, she takes being the principal seriously.

 

About Manny, he introduces coworkers Emily (Kimia Behpoornia) and Simon (Benjamin Norris) and comes bearing gifts: New iPads and Smartboards for the classrooms. This excites some of the staff, but Barbara and Melissa feel that they won’t change anything. When it’s time to take staff suggestions, Janine suggests a Career Day and Ava shoots her idea down because it’s never worked in the past. In a one-on-one interview, Janine says she’s ready to take a page out of Barbara’s book and she’s done trying to change things. Now, she says she’s just focused on trying to be a good teacher as opposed to fixing unfixable things.

 

Manny comes up to Janine and tells her he likes her idea. Not only that, but he promises that this year the school district is going to get things done and not embezzle funds. Once they’re in Janine’s room we learn that Manny has no teaching experience, but he grew up in the district. We learn that Manny reads Chalkbeat (a teacher forum). He also approves of Janine’s thoughts on the color scheme. Janine is not used to getting so much positive feedback about her ideas.

 

Ava goes to Barbara’s classroom and tells her she wants her to change things. She tells Barbara that she wants her to change the way the seats are set up and no longer teach cursive. Barbara hates both plans, but Ava says it’s a district mandate.

 

Gregory and Janine catch up on their summer vacations, Janine spent time reflecting and Gregory worked for his father in Baltimore. Manny pulls Janine aside and tells her that her ideas are great and he thinks she’s a great fit for the district fellowship. Janine isn’t sure at first because she likes setting aside summers to be away from school, but it’s not a summer gig. Her class would have a substitute for the duration of the fellowship. Janine doesn’t like the idea of being away from her students for that long.

 

Janine tells Jacob about the district fellowship and he thinks it’s a great idea. However, Janine still doesn’t like the idea of leaving her students. Then, the kids come back and Janine is excited to teach with iPads, but they’re all dead. Unfortunately, the district only sent over two chargers with the iPads.

 

Barbara and Melissa talk about Gary (Bruno Amato), Melissa’s boyfriend. He’s been dropping a lot of hints about marriage and Melissa doesn’t think he’s serious about it. Barbara points out that men usually don’t joke about marriage and he asked her for Melissa’s ring size. Before they can dig in too deep there Gregory comes to talk to them about Ava.

 

The new and improved Ava continues to be a headache for the teachers. She nixes free periods, tells Jacob he can’t use non-district-approved materials and takes away lunch breaks. Now, Gregory informs her that she won’t even let him tend to the garden on campus. The teachers agree that it’s time to bring the old Ava back.

 

Elsewhere, Janine and Manny talk a little more about the fellowship. Since the thing holding back Janine is leaving Abbott, Manny tells her she can be at the school once or twice a week. The idea, Manny says, is for the district to get feedback about their ideas in real-time. Then, the district employees go to Barbara’s classroom to offer her some help moving the chairs. She’s apprehensive at first, but then finally agrees. She doesn’t trust Manny or his dream team, but she softens a little when he tells her his mother was a teacher in the district. He never taught, but he heard her complain about the district’s shortcomings for twenty years. Barbara points out that a lot of district workers have been disappointing, but Manny says he just wants to make the job easier.

 

Another change Ava made was to install cameras at the school to monitor efficiency. Melissa shares that they’ve come up with a plan to reset Ava back to her old self. So, far their attempts to get Ava to blow off work haven’t worked but they think Gregory is the key. Gregory doesn’t like being objectified, but the other teachers say it’s their only hope. Unfortunately, she doesn’t react to his arms the way they hope. Ava tells him to put his cardigan back on and says the old Ava is dead and gone. The teachers feel disheartened at the idea that this is their new normal, but Barbara says they have one more card to play.

 

Janine goes to talk to Barbara about the fellowship and is surprised by what she tells her. Janine walked in expecting a Barbara downer speech telling her never to dream, but Barbara says she thinks this group could be different. Barbara points out that she has never said not to dream, because dreamers are the only people capable of bringing about a new reality. This touches Janine and then Barbara confuses her by saying she’s going to go save the school.

 

Barbara gets the teachers to distract Ava by telling her someone is slandering Harvard in the gym. Once she’s there Barbara puts aside her Christian sensibilities to say she has Ava’s kryptonite. She asks for Jacob’s phone, gets him to open Spotify and when Ava’s in the gym she starts playing the one song she can’t resist: “Back That Azz Up.”

 

At first when she hears the song she tries to hold onto her hyper-professional new persona, but Juvenille’s lyrics are just too much for her. As she dances to the song, the old Ava returns and tells Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) to find her ringlight because she’s got a lot of livestreaming to catch up on. This makes the teachers happy and when they ask if they can have their free periods and lunches back, she continues to dance and says they can do whatever they want.

 

Later at dinner Jacob and Gregory share how they got the old Ava back and everyone agrees that the old Ava is better. Also, Janine shares the fellowship news with Gregory. He congratulates her because it’d be a great opportunity, but he admits he’ll miss Janine. Janine says she’ll miss seeing him, her classroom and of course her kids.