| Episode |
"Development Day" is the first episode of the second season and the 14th overall of Abbott Elementary. It aired on September 21, 2022 on ABC.
Description[]
The teachers are back at Willard R. Abbott Public School for development week, a time to prepare for the upcoming year before the students' first day of school. Post-breakup, Janine is determined to start the year off right and leave her problems at home. With this new outlook, she takes on organizing the faculty mixer and announces a special celebrity surprise she planned for the kids' first day. Meanwhile, Ava runs a side hustle out of the school parking lot and Gregory, now a full-time teacher, is in over his head with the curriculum.
Plot[]
Janine recounts her life post-breakup. Tariq picks up his stuff from her apartment. She’s starting to do things differently, such as parting her hair on a different side. She says that she isn’t affected that much, and she was able to fast-track their breakup.
Ava tells Janine that she is using her usual parking spot to raise money for the school.
The new school year is about to start, and it is development week. Janine arrives at school and finds her usual parking spot occupied by tailgating Eagles fans. Ava informs her that it’s game day, and she’s been trying to earn a little extra money for the school by having the fans tailgate in their parking lot. She tells Janine that she’ll need to pay to park in her spot, or else she’ll have to park out on the street.
Inside the school, Ava welcomes all the teachers and staff for Development Week. It’s the week that teachers prepare for the year. They get ready, get their curriculum, research their students, and make plans.
Barbara helping Ava with the appropriation of the grant.
Barbara is also getting ready for the new school year. She says she worked with Ava to properly appropriate the funds they received from the grant last year. When she found out earlier that year that she would be welcoming a student who uses a wheelchair, part of the grant money was used to install a new ramp. She only needs to get that student the appropriate desk.
At the auditorium, Ava proceeds with her presentation, which officially starts Development Week. Gregory shares with the camera that he’s excited about being a full-time teacher. He spent time going over his materials. Jacob tells the camera that he learned level-one ASL during his summer in Peru. Melissa tells the camera that she and Gary, the vending machine salesman, spent the entire summer at the Jersey Shore.
During Ava’s presentation, she breaks down their itinerary, including an ASL class taught by Jacob and a mixer held by Janine. She also reveals that some classes will be combined due to a teacher shortage. When Janine shares her plans for the mixer, Barbara and Melissa notice that she’s gotten herself together this year. Janine is happy that everybody else sees that she’s gotten herself together after the breakup.
When Ava notices Janine and Jacob conversing, she calls their attention. Janine uses this opportunity to announce to everybody in the auditorium that she was able to book Gritty, the beloved Philadelphia Flyers mascot, on the first day of school for the children. Everybody is excited by the news, except for Gregory, who does not “get” Gritty. This offends Melissa so he backs down.
After the Development Week presentation, Ava informs Melissa that she will have a combined second and third-grade class this year. Melissa isn’t too happy with the news, so Ava offers to give her an aide. Melissa flat-out refuses the offer and walks away.
Gregory vents to Barbara about how difficult it is to cover the whole first-grade curriculum in one school year. Barbara tells him that the school district does this every year, so they have to just do what they can. Gregory then asks Barbara who she is on the phone with. Barbara tells the camera that she’s been on the phone with the school district, and they have been giving her the runaround. She has been requesting a new desk for her student in a wheelchair. Somebody finally answers on the other line, but it is only Mr. Johnson, whose number got mistakenly entered into the school district’s directory.
In the teachers’ lounge, Janine and Jacob are planning what they are going to do during their mixer and ASL workshop, respectively. Jacob is using Janine’s laptop to look something up when an email notification from Janine’s landlord pops up, stating that Janine’s rent is already three months past due. Jacob confronts Janine about it. Janine brushes it off when a second email notification arrives from the landlord, instructing her not to ignore him because he knew where she lived. Jacob doesn’t tell Janine about the second email, but he looks visibly concerned by the seeming threat.
In Gregory’s classroom, he is mapping out his schedule for the whole year. Barbara walks in and finds all his charts and diagrams. Gregory explains that he’s doing this so he can meet every one of the district’s mandated goals. Barbara asks him what he is going to do if something goes wrong, and he falls behind schedule. She lists different scenarios that Gregory did not account for. Just then, Mr. Johnson comes in, wheeling a table for Barbara’s disabled student. Barbara quickly dismisses him since he is hauling a cafeteria table.
Jacob then barges in, stating an emergency. Barbara leaves when she determines that it isn’t actually an emergency. Jacob shares what he read in Janine’s email to Gregory. He then asks Gregory to talk to her since she’s acting like being evicted isn’t a big deal. Gregory walks up to Janine, with Jacob following closely behind. Gregory bluntly asks her if she is getting evicted. She is startled by the question, but she still reassures them that she has a plan.
In the library, the mixer has already begun. Barbara commends Janine for its success, saying that she is impressed. Janine gratefully accepts the compliment and eagerly continues with the rest of the things she has planned out. However, things start to go wrong, starting with the TV, but Gregory is able to help her out. Then, Mr. Johnson informs her that her car is about to get booted.
Janine getting inside her car to move it in a last ditch attempt to prevent getting booted.
They quickly go to where Janine’s car is parked. The enforcer tells her that she has unpaid parking tickets, which is why her car is being booted. She pleads with the enforcer not to boot her car since she can’t afford to pay for the tickets, and she really needs her car. The enforcer is unmoved by her plea, so in an act of desperation, she gets on her car and moves it. Everyone tries to stop her, but she immediately stops driving when she sees Gritty walking to the school.
Janine confronting Gritty for being a week early for his booking.
She gets out of her car and demands to know what the mascot was doing in Abbott since she booked him for next Monday. Gritty indicates that he is scheduled for today, with Jacob interpreting for him Janine checks and realizes that she mixed up the dates and mistakenly booked Gritty for today. Gritty signs that due to his hectic schedule, he will most likely be unable to return next week.
Melissa and Barbara voice their concerns about Janine’s current state, saying she doesn’t usually commit those blunders. Janine finally admits that the breakup is affecting her. Barbara and Melissa console her, saying that breakups are a part of life and that she just has to go through them.
Back inside, Gregory is in deep thought. Barbara notices and asks if he’s all right. Gregory reflects on the futility of overpreparing, as he just lost a lot of time due to the Janine-Gritty-boot fiasco. Barbara offers him some words of wisdom. She says that being a teacher is like being asked to do the impossible, and the only solution is to show up every day and try your best. With that, Gregory takes down all his charts and diagrams. Shortly, Janine reveals to the camera that Jacob lent her some money to pay for her overdue rent.
Gregory looking for and finding an ADA desk in the storage room.
On the first day of school, Gregory got his dad to lend them a costume of Eddie Lawn and Care’s mascot. Mr. Johnson opines while wearing it that even though he is no Gritty, the children don’t care. Meanwhile, Jacob is conversing with a Deaf student using ASL. Melissa’s additional third-grade class also arrives, and she leads them all to her classroom. Barbara’s disabled student finally arrives at school. When they arrive at her classroom, Barbara finds an ADA desk for her student. Gregory reveals to the camera that he remembered Barbara saying that there were past students who used the said desks, and he doubted that somebody would just throw those away. So, he went to the storage room and found the desk.
As Janine and Gregory are leading their students inside, Gregory notices that Janine parted her hair a different way and complements her.
Starring[]
- Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues
- Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie
- Janelle James as Ava Coleman
- Lisa Ann Walter as Melissa Schemmenti
- Chris Perfetti as Jacob Hill
- William Stanford Davis as Mr. Johnson
- Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard
Guest Starring[]
Co-Starring[]
- Christopher W. Brantley as Parent
- Nicole Dele as Ms. Pinkney
- Makenzie Lee-Foster as Imani (ASL Student)
- Jason Medwin as Parking Agent
- Gritty as Gritty
Ratings[]
"Development Day" was watched by 2.922 million viewers, earning a 0.57 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.[1]
Media[]
Episode stills[]
Behind the scenes[]
References[]
- ↑ Metcalf, Mitch (September 22, 2022). SHOWBUZZDAILY's Wednesday 9.21.2022 Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals UPDATED. ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved on December 12, 2022.