Abbott Elementary Wiki
Advertisement

Janine Teagues is one of the main characters of ABC's sitcom Abbott Elementary. She is a second-grade teacher at Willard R. Abbott Elementary School who "has a mission to help the lives of her students."

She is portrayed by the show's creator, Quinta Brunson.

Personality[]

Janine Teagues is a plucky and optimistic second-grade teacher at Abbott Elementary who remains unjaded by all the school lacks. Ms. Teagues strives to make sure her students have enough to learn and grow. In a lot of ways, Ms. Teagues is the most staunch critic of the system she works within, even if she is the most happy-go-lucky.[9]

During her teenage years and in college, Janine wasn't popular and didn't have friends, except Sahar.

History[]

Pre-Series[]

Prior to the start of the series, Janine was teaching at Abbott for about a year. She was a product of the Philadelphia school system. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

Season One[]

In Pilot, a film crew was invited by Ava to document the lives of Abbott teachers and their interactions with students and other staff. Janine was the first to be filmed during one of her class activities. She shared that the main problem in their school district was money, so she had to make do with their limited resources. She shared that she looked up to the different teachers at Abbott, particularly the more senior ones. As she was explaining this to the camera, she heard a trickling sound and found that her student had peed their classroom rug.

Season Two[]

Wiki letter w
This is an empty section. Please help improve this article by adding information to it.
Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Season Three[]

Wiki letter w
This is an empty section. Please help improve this article by adding information to it.
Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Season Four[]

Wiki letter w
This is an empty section. Please help improve this article by adding information to it.
Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Ayesha Teagues (Sister)[]

Wiki letter w
This is an empty section. Please help improve this article by adding information to it.
Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Vanetta Teagues (Mother)[]

Very little is known about Janine's mother, and besides that, their relationship is not the healthiest. In Open House, it was shown that their communication is very scant, as Janine's many text messages are not responded to. It is presumed that Janine's relationship with her mother is one of the reasons she is very attached to Barbara.

Janine syas she used to tell her mom exactly what she wanted to hear, hoping she would just say it back (like love, and support, etc), but her mom would just keep playing Janine’s Game Boy.[10]

Romantic[]

Maurice (Ex-Boyfriend)[]

Maurice and Janine met in a hookah bar during Christmas break. Maurice was with Gregory, and Janine was with Erika, initially. Maurice had stated to Gregory that Janine was his type, but Gregory asked that he not hit on her, so Maurice did not make a move. However, when Gregory left to be with Amber, and Erika, to be with someone she met in the club, the two shared a conversation, and Maurice officially introduced himself to Janine. After that night, the two started texting each other and eventually started dating. After the events in Teacher Conference, Janine thought of breaking up with Maurice. She initially did not want to tell him about kissing Gregory, but Gregory did not want that to weigh on him, so they decided to tell Maurice about the kiss, together. Maurice thought of continuing his relationship with Janine even after finding out about the kiss. However, when Janine breaks up with him in front of Gregory, he thinks it is "sick" and asks the two to leave.

Gregory Eddie (Boyfriend)[]

Gregory is one of Janine's good friends, although after the events in "Teacher Conference," their relationship has taken quite a turn. It is implied that Gregory has harbored a crush on her ever since their first interaction and his attraction to her is noticed by the other staff members particularly Barbara and Mr. Johnson. Greg, like Jacob, is one of Janine's most supportive friends, albeit he is much more levelheaded than her and is always willing to offer his input even if it is negative, such as being critical about the gifted program that Janine wanted to create. Janine is one of the reasons why Greg decided to remain at Abbott Elementary as a full-time teacher despite his father's urging to move on, and Janine has helped him open up to his students and the job more. For example, in Wishlist, Janine reveals that his students look up to him very much and urges him to decorate his classroom. Their interactions can be at times flirtatious, such as when Greg fixes a crooked painting in her classroom at the end of Light Bulb or when Greg tells Janine that "it's a lot easier to say yes to things when she's the one asking" when Janine asked him to help Ava on her presentation with the superintendent even though Ava took the job he wanted. It is also notable that Janine was disappointed to see Gregory in a relationship with Barbara's daughter Taylor at the end of "Zoo Balloon" when she broke up with Tariq.

Tariq Temple (Ex-Boyfriend)[]

Tariq is Janine's ex-boyfriend, and also her only relationship ever. Tariq and Janine met in 8th grade and had been dating since without any breaks. While Tariq and Janine's relationship is quite healthy, it was noted that they had financial troubles and Janine was, at times, frustrated with Tariq's lack of direction and flightiness. Although Janine's colleagues respected Tariq, some, particularly Barbara and Jacob, were critical of him and especially of their relationship. In Zoo Balloon, it was revealed that Tariq was given a job offer where he had to relocate to New York City. With the advice of her colleagues, Janine decided that it was best for her and Tariq to take a break from their relationship as she was happy and wanted to stay at Abbott Elementary. In Development Day, it is shown that Janine is still navigating the effects of their breakup, such as getting her car towed because of his unpaid parking tickets, facing eviction, and just genuinely missing an important part of her life.

Friends[]

Ava Coleman[]

Ava and Janine can most accurately be seen as "frenemies," as Janine is extremely critical of Ava's lack of aptitude as principal. Janine is frequently the butt of many of Ava's jokes, typically on Janine's optimistic attitude and her wardrobe, and usually catches Ava's ire whenever Janine attempts to go over Ava's authority for help, such as in the first episode when she writes an email to the superintendent and the email gets bounced back to Ava's email. Throughout the series, their relationship becomes more friendly as they collaborate on a step team together and Janine offers to help Ava with her presentation for the superintendent where it is revealed that Ava recognizes the hard work that Janine and the other teachers in Abbott Elementary do. Janine also witnesses a much more tender side of Ava when she learns that Ava cares for her grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer's.

Ava and Janine have gone to McDonalds together outside of school. Ava tried to get Janine to pretend to be her daughter so she could get a Happy Meal and Janine refused.[11]

Barbara Howard[]

Janine sees Barbara as a role model and a secondary mother figure, much to Barbara's chagrin although Barbara holds a soft spot for Janine. When Janine first joined Abbott Elementary, Barbara was particularly annoyed by her pluckiness and optimism but was moved by Janine's absolute devotion to making a difference for her students. Despite being frequently annoyed by Janine's antics, she is quite proud of Janine and supports her frequently as shown by providing her with cleaning supplies for her rug in the first episode, and when Barbara remarks how far Janine has gotten as a teacher in "Zoo Balloon." An important aspect of their relationship can be seen as a conflict between traditional and new teaching styles as seen with how Barbara voices her disdain for the use of technology in her classroom and Janine uses local Philadelphia vernacular in a lesson with phonetics with her students.

Jacob Hill[]

Janine is good friends with Jacob Hill, who is a History teacher at Abbott Elementary School. They came in with other teachers at Abbott Elementary School in 2020, but they were the only ones to stay while several of them resigned. Jacob is typically one of Janine's most supportive friends, sharing her naïve although well-intentioned and optimistic nature. They collaborate frequently in making Abbott Elementary a better place, such as spearheading the gifted program together and working together to do things such as fixing the school's power and holding an intervention assembly for the Desking issue although all of their attempts tend to backfire. Jacob is also well acquainted with Tariq, Janine's then-boyfriend in Season 1, even so much as to urge her to break up with him for her personal growth. In "Zoo Balloon," Jacob is distraught at the idea of Janine moving to New York City.

Janine confides in Jacob about a lot of her life. In "Work Family" we learn she has told Jacob that she falls asleep to "Last Man Standing" every night.

Melissa Schemmenti[]

Melissa is the other second-grade teacher at Abbott Elementary. Like Barbara, Melissa is annoyed by Janine's pluckiness and optimism but is supportive of Janine's antics and attempts to make the school a better place, such as at the end of Pilot where she uses one of her connections to get her and her fellow teachers rugs for their classrooms. In "Student Transfer," Janine and Melissa's relationship became rocky because Janine took a bad review on her teaching personally and took it out on Melissa but they patched it up at the end of the episode. In "Art Teacher," Melissa was increasingly frustrated at Janine's friend Sahar with the Peter Rabbit project but was moved by how Janine stood up to Sahar for her.

Mr. Johnson[]

Mr. Johnson and Janine have interacted very little throughout Season 1, although Janine did voice her concern about Mr. Johnson substituting for a class when he is a "70-year-old janitor who voted for Kanye."

Sahar[]

Sahar is one of Janine's friends from college. Janine credits Sahar as the person who got her out of her shell in college. During the events of "Art Teacher," it is shown that their relationship was uneven as Janine and Sahar had very little in common and Janine likely enjoyed Sahar's company because of how cool she was. The unevenness of their relationship is shown through an anecdote about how, during college, Sahar was able to get into an event but Janine had to wait outside, and how Sahar's artistic and expressive perspectives tend to go over Janine's head. Their relationship begins to fray when Sahar joins Abbott Elementary as she butts heads with Melissa over the Peter Rabbit project. After Sahar uses the new Peter Rabbit books for an art exhibit (while also disparaging the classic tale throughout the episode) Janine stands up to Sahar and quits. It is presumed that their friendship is over after the episode.

Memorable quotes[]

  • "For primary classes, rugs are like a calming space for the kids. It's like a Xanax. Like a huge Xanax for kids to sit on."[8]
  • "Erica, I told you to call me Ms. Teagues. I'm an adult, though we are almost the same height."[8]
  • "It'd be easy to just give up and not have a gifted program, but there was an acronym I learned in the one I was in... PIE... Perseverance, Ingenuity, and Effort. I love PIE. Even though I can't eat it, though. Hurts my tummy. But I did try it for many years. That's the perseverance part, which is why we should have a gifted program."[12]
  • "This is classic Janine and Sahar. I mean, being her friend is so exciting. We are just doing a ton of cool stuff all the time, like going to a party at Tierra Whack's house, which she got to go to. I actually… I stood outside and, um, I just listened because I couldn't get in. It all sounded so fun. Everyone was having a really good time."[6]

Trivia[]

  • In the pilot, Janine reveals that she is a Sagittarius, which means her birthday is somewhere between November 22 to December 21.
  • Janine's favorite restaurant is Bahama Breeze.[7]
  • Janine is afraid of heights.[7]
  • Janine has no middle name, as her mother forgot to give her one.[1]
  • Janine doesn’t know who her real father is, however, in Mother’s Day she states her real father may be Kevin Hart. However, this is disproven by a DNA test.
  • Janine prefers Buzz over Woody in Toy Story.[8]
  • Janine’s favorite teacher was her third grade teacher “Ms. Elliot." She says Barbara reminds her of her. [8]
  • In 3rd Grade Janine got this note in her report card (Via Ms. Elliot) "Needs friends her own age. A bit clingy." [8]
  • Janine is scared of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney.[7]
  • The Lunch People at Abbott do not like Janine, because they view her as a busybody.[7]
  • Janine learned to read from a website called “AtoZOneTwoThree” because her mother didn’t teach her.[13]
  • Janine potty-trained herself.[13]
  • Janine was in the Gifted and Talented Program at her school.[12]
  • Janine can’t eat pie because it hurts her tummy, although she tried for many years.[12]
  • Janine loves gushers.[12]
  • Janine likes to do puzzles and knit. [6]
  • Janine likes plums.[6]
  • Janine has always wanted to go to Paris.[4]
  • Janine falls asleep to "Last Man Standing" every night. It has gotten her through some dark times.[4]
  • Janine’s favorite day of the week is Monday because she gets to go back to Abbott.[5]
  • Janine used to be in a “Degrassi” reenactment group.[11]
  • Janine drives a silver beat-up sedan with a bumper sticker that says “"If you can read this, thank a teacher.”[14]

Appearances[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Development[]

In an interview with Insider, Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson, who plays Janine, revealed that Janine was just a side character who was a staff member at Abbott. During the initial visions of the series, kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard–portrayed by Sheryl Lee Ralph–was meant to be the "driving force" of the series.

And then [Warner Bros] said, 'You're crazy if you think we are buying the show without you in it, and I was like, 'Oh, okay. That's fair.' So, I had to put myself in it.[15]

Accolades[]

For the role of Janine Teagues, portrayer, and Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson received several nominations, including a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2022.[16]

Media[]

Promotional[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Principal's Office." Season 2, Episode 4.
  2. "Fundraiser." Season 2, Episode 13.
  3. "Student Transfer." Season 1, Episode 5.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Work Family." Season 1, Episode 8.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Step Class." Season 1, Episode 9.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Art Teacher." Season 1, Episode 7.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Light Bulb." Season 1, Episode 2.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 "Pilot." Season 1, Episode 1.
  9. Forman, Beatrice (February 4, 2022). ‘Abbott Elementary’ character guide: Who’s in Quinta Brunson’s hit comedy?. Retrieved on April 27, 2022.
  10. "Open House." Season 1, Episode 10.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Story Samurai." Season 2, Episode 3.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 "Gifted Program." Season 1, Episode 6.
  13. 13.0 13.1 "New Tech." Season 1, Episode 4.
  14. "Development Day." Season 2, Episode 1.
  15. Mazzeo, Esme (March 1, 2022). Quinta Brunson: 'Abbott Elementary' Isn't 'the Office' for Teachers. Insider. Retrieved on April 27, 2022.
  16. Jordan Moreau; Michael Schneider (July 12, 2022). Emmy Nominations 2022: Full List of Nominees.

Site Navigation[]

Advertisement