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Series Review: Abbott Elementary School, Creator: Quinta Bronson, 2022

The series "Abbott Elementary School" is the creation of Quinta Bronson, who conceived, created and even stars in this cute series. The series is nominated for an Emmy and even a Golden Globe. Each episode is only about 20 minutes long, which pass with great fun and enjoyment. There are currently 2 seasons of the series. Disney Plus only received the first season, in the hope that the second season will also arrive.



Abbott Elementary School is a public school in Philadelphia. It doesn't have a lot of resources, but the dedicated teachers, those who make it through their first year, try to do everything they can to give the students the best. In each chapter a problem is presented, and how the teachers solve it creatively and with care towards their students. The characters develop during the series and little by little we like them more and more.



The first is Janine Tiegs (Quinta Brunson), a second-year teacher. She has not yet learned how to dominate the classroom. Her role model is veteran kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph), who has been teaching at the school for about 20 years. She really feels like her daughter, and is jealous of her daughter Taylor (Liana Haley), who shows up at school one day. Janine has a longtime friend named Tariq Temple (Zach Fox), who is a rapper, who decides to take it upon himself to educate children against drug use and sing songs against them.



Another person who influences Janine is the egocentric principal Eva Coleman (Jenelle James), who is only interested in her personal affairs and not the problems at school. But, little by little, we get used to her and her craziness, and she becomes a little human, when Janine sees her taking care of her grandmother, who came to school because she wasn't feeling well. She knows how to dance and guides the dance group, and although Janine wanted to be the coach, she stole the role from her and in the end the girls dance wonderfully.



The school has fewer male teachers. One is history teacher Jacob Hill (Chris Perpeti), who collaborates with Janine. He is openly gay and his partner even helps them with a problem that arose at school.



The other teacher really wanted to be a principal, but had to settle for a substitute teacher when another teacher left. This is Gregory Eddy (Taylor James Williams). At first he is indifferent, but he has a personal charm and his students love him and give him paintings, which, on Janine's advice, decorate the classroom. He likes Janine and they go out for meals occasionally. But, he becomes the partner of Taylor, Barbara's daughter, with whom he finds a common language.



The school's butler, Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) also plays an important role in school life. He feels very comfortable in the company of the teaching staff as well as the students. When there is no teacher he occasionally replaces him, and when they go to the zoo, he stays with the children who didn't go out and keeps them busy.



The problems raised in the series are familiar to anyone who studies public education in the United States. They are mainly due to a lack of money and budget. Starting with problems with the electricity, which there was no one to fix, until Janine messes with it and causes all the electricity to be cut off, then there is no choice and we have to fix it. Also lack of equipment, they turn to the community to help them in different ways and also through the internet and even receive the equipment. However, the problem of jumping on the students' desks and going through different thinking and actions, such as taking the desks down to the basement, found its solution in an original way, when Jacob jumped on his desk and the students decided that if a teacher does that, it's not cool and they stopped.



A trip to the zoo in the last episode showed how much Janine has changed for the better. A boy who escaped and got into the hot air balloon accidentally brings her up with him, even though she suffers from a fear of heights and she got over it. Janine also breaks up with Tariq, who is supposed to go to perform in New York and she is pleased with herself. At the end - on the bus the students go a bit wild and she calms them down by shouting and they listen to her. She managed to learn how to control the students.



A small and magical series, we are already looking forward to its second part. The rising game of all the players and they brought up familiar problems and found special solutions for them.



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