History Characters / AbbottElementary

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

"Portrayed by": Benjamin Norris

"Portrayed by": June Diane Raphael

"Portrayed by": Sabrina Wu

"Portrayed by": Carleas Burke

"Portrayed by": Jennifer Elise Cox

* PickyEater: The staff is shocked that Gregory doesn't like pizza. He doesn't like much of anything, and will only eat a very specific small handful of meals.

-->'''Ava:''' ''(In reference to Barbara never complaining or asking for things)'' What is your secret, Barb?\\

* ActorAllusion: Scenes of her at home are heavily influenced by Lisa Ann Walter's role in ''Film/TheParentTrap1998'', from the passion for cooking down to the outfit she's wearing.

-->'''Melissa:''' ''[holding a {{doorstopper}}]'' Yeah, that'll work.\\

* GreenEyedMonster: He refuses to admit it, but when his friend Maurice starts dating Janine, he's clearly jealous.

* EnemyMine: When Ava needs to make a plea to the school board for more funds he (through gritted teeth) reluctantly helps her despite her stealing his position (and constantly making him feel uncomfortable) for the greater good. Even withstanding the Superintendent's veiled promises to promote him to principal should Ava fail.

* SternTeacher: Gregory has a highly-regimented, borderline militaristic approach to teaching. This is deconstructed, as his initial refusal to let loose or be emotionally available to his students actually makes him a less effective teacher, and is partially a result of the mismatch between his education/training and his current job. He only becomes good at his job when he learns to lighten up a bit.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Jacob is implied to be from a wealthy family, but he teaches at an impoverished school.

** He has a hard time standing up to his students and often lets them make jokes at his expense. It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that he's aware of his own race and fears the implications of a white man disciplining predominately BIPOC students.

* HiddenDepths: He is surprisingly pretty good at poker even beating Melissa by pretending he doesn't know what poker is. He also effortlessly joins a game of double dutch, even making up a rhyme on the fly.

* InformedAbility: In Season 1 Jacob makes a huge deal out of Janine being only a work friend and him having many friends outside work, come season 2 Jacob somehow has worse social skills than Greg and Janine and becomes very dependent on his Abbott friends.

* OddCouple: Downplayed and Averted in "Desking," when Ava, Barb, Melissa, and Gregory meet his boyfriend Zach for the first time. Everyone is amazed that the exhausting Jacob is not only in a serious relationship, but living with someone. Ava takes this one step further by blurting out [[BlackAndNerdy "Black?!"]] when Zach first walks in. After Jacob and Zach reveal that they are perfect for one another, and Zach is an expert at managing Jacob's tangents, they decide as one that they <i>adore</i> Zach.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: His attempt to sanitize the history of the labor struggles in South Philly pisses off Melissa, who happens to personally know several people involved in the uglier side of union organizing.

--> '''Ava''': Lady, are ''you'' high!?

* TheSocialExpert: Played with. Her one and only asset is that what she lacks in actual competence she makes up for in charisma and a vast understanding of social trends. In personal interactions, however, she comes off as having NoSocialSkills simply because she doesn't care enough to put in the effort.

* BewaretheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:After finding out Jacob was purposefully doing petty actions in order to anger him to get him to break up with him first so he wouldn't have to do it, Zach is appalled and warns Jacob that he "unleashed the kraken", and he retaliates by shrinking his clothes and forcing him to find a new apartment]]

-->(Vanetta gives her a threatening look)

-->(Ava runs away)

* AlphaBitch: Routinely belittles and bullies her staff, especially Jeanine.

* CrazyPrepared: Deconstructed. He overprepares for his first semester as a full-time teacher, scheduling every last second of the day, until Barbara points out to him how easily this can go awry from the most minor unexpected event. He has a minor FreakOut about this until he's reminded that he's working at an elementary school; dealing with the unexpected is his job.

* PlainPalate: He's already [[PickyEater very picky about food]], and the foods he does like are very plain (like boiled chicken). According to him, he doesn't like pizza because he hates the feeling of multiple different flavors in his mouth.

* WellDoneSonGuy: He's this almost despite himself. Even though he chose his career in education in direct opposition to his father's wishes, his overall demeanor and even the way he teaches are rooted in wanting his father to be proud of him.

Jacob's boyfriend and a shoe aficionado.

[[folder:Shanae and Devin]]
!!!Portrayed by Creator/NikeaGambyTurner and Creator/ReggieConquest

The school's cafeteria workers.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Amber]]
!!!Portrayed by Creator/NateJones

The parent of a student in Gregory, later Janine's class who brings her son into school late. She also starts dating Gregory after her son is no longer a student in his class.

[[folder:Alley Williams]]
!!!Portrayed by Creator/AmbritMillhouse
A teacher who used to work at Abbott.

[[folder:Delisha]]
!!!Portrayed by Creator/ShirleyJordan
A member of the school board and a member of Barbara's church.

[[folder:Mr. Morton]]
!!!Portrayed by Creator/JerryMinor
An eighth-grade science teacher who works with Jacob.

[[folder:Kristin Marie]]
!!!Played by Lauren Weedman
Melissa's estranged sister who works at a rival school.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Despite their bitter relationship, Kristin and her sister Melissa still care deeply about each other.

[[folder:Ashley Garcia]]
!!!Portrayed by Keyla Monterroso Mejia

The teaching aide assigned to assist Melissa in season 2.

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: She's easily bored, goofs around with a classroom skeleton when she should be helping Melissa, and somehow didn't see a bunch of children steal sackfuls of candy that were ''right behind her.''
* BigFun: She's plus-sized and very cheerful and fun-oriented. The students love how she entertains them in class; too bad this is to the detriment of Melissa's actual teaching.
* BumblingSidekick: Melissa ''definitely'' sees her as one. Ashley loves teaching and gets along well with the students, but she is clearly uninterested in anything Melissa specifically asks her to do and never consults with Melissa about lesson plans.
* TheSlacker: Ashley is very bad at being a teaching aide and prefers to play games with the students or use her phone rather than assist Melissa. Fittingly, she gets along swimmingly with Ava - a ProfessionalSlacker.
* [[{{Manchild}} Womanchild]]: Even more than Ava, Ashley is extremely immature, to the point where she giggles after Melissa accidentally says "peepee."

[[folder:Tasha Hoffman]]
!!!Portrayed by Taylor Garron
A teacher at Abbott who typically avoids Janine, and is very briefly befriended by Melissa and Barbara when she is away.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Erika]]
!!!Portrayed by Courtney Taylor
A friend of Janine's who is the aunt of a student.

* NiceGirl: From what we see, she is the only real friend (outside Abbott) that doesn't have ulterior motives for their friendship with Janine. She is also a huge factor in teaching Janine how to have a more social life.

[[folder:Draemond Winding]]
!!!Portrayed by Creator/LeslieOdomJr

The owner of Legendary Schools, a charter organization that comes into conflict with Abbott after releasing an attack ad about the school's teachers.

* AffablyEvil: To the point, he doesn't do anything illegal when he makes an ad portraying Abbott Elementary School in a negative light (even if he did trick them into signing contracts allowing him to do it). Even when confronted about it, he compliments Jacob by comparing him to Creator/TimotheeChalamet, tries to convince the teachers that he was only helping them, and still has a cordial talk with Barbara. Of course, even after he agrees to have the ad pulled, he privately decides that he's now planning on turning Abbott into one of his charter schools - but he still insists it's to help the kids.
* FreudianExcuse: He came from a severely underprivileged background to the point where he was jaded and cynical at the age of ''five''. Aside from Barbara’s class, he had a horrible time in public schools until he was enrolled in a charter school he thrived in. This resulted in starting his own charter organization with the goal of converting every elementary school in Philadelphia to one.
* JerkassHasAPoint: As reprehensible as his actions are, he isn't wrong that Abbott has a lot of problems as an institution of learning, particularly the fact that Ava is clearly unqualified to be a principal.
* MisplacedRetribution: He is mad at Abbott for treating him badly when he was a kid...so he makes an ad portraying teachers he never had in the first place badly.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In "Festival," [[spoiler: Draemond crashes AVA Fest and attempts to use it to show the crowd how much better the school will be when it goes charter. However, the community quickly realizes he's full of it and unites against him, rallying around Abbott instead. Until Draemond showed up, the school was actually struggling to get people to oppose Legendary Charter, and their attempts to get the signatures they needed likely would have failed if he hadn't.]]
* SmugSnake: Talks and acts like Abbott's takeover is a foregone conclusion. [[spoiler: At least until the events of "Festival."]]

!!Students
[[folder:Courtney Pierce]]
!!!Portrayed by Lela Hoffmeister
A former student of Melissa who is later troublesome for Janine when transferred to her class.

[[folder:Will]]
!!!Portrayed by Levi Mynatt
A student of Abbott who is primarily known amongst other students for his dancing.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Clarence]]
!!!Portrayed by Zakai Biagas Bey
A student of Jacob, who would later join a member of the podcasting club started by Jacob and Gregory.

[[/folder]]


!!Others
[[folder:Tina Schwartz]]
!!!Portrayed by Kate Peterman

The former teacher at Abbott Elementary who was fired for kicking a child. She was later hired to work at Addington Charter School.
----
* TheBusCameBack: She turned out to have been hired at a charter school.
* KarmaHoudini: She was fired from Abbott for kicking a student, but then got a job at the more prestigious and better-paying Addington, since it's a charter school and they don't have as many restrictions on who can be hired.
* PutOnABus: She was fired after kicking a child out of frustration.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Although Tina was fired in the first episode and rarely appeared afterward, her firing led to her successor, Gregory Eddie, coming in as a substitute teacher for her class and becoming a major cast member. Not to mention that she is indirectly responsible for the ShipTease between him and Janine to happen. Had she not "punted" a student, Gregory would not have been hired to take her place and met Janine.
* WouldHurtAChild: She kicked a child out of frustration, leading to her getting fired from Abbott.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Maurice]]
!!!Portrayed by Vince Staples
A friend of Gregory who begins dating Janine midway through season 2.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ayesha Teagues]]
!!!Portrayed by Ayo Edebiri
Janine's estranged sister who lives in Denver, Colorado. She comes to Philadelphia to see Janine in season 2.
----
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Although she and Janine do have a brief argument with each other, they do love and care about each other.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: She is the foolish to Janine's responsible and educated. It is deconstructed as Ayesha is very bothered because everyone gave up on her making something of herself because she isn't like Janine, while for Janine, it always left her to pick up the pieces.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vanetta Teagues]]
!!!Played by Creator/TarajiPHenson
Janine and Ayesha's mother
----
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Despite her neglectful relationship with Janine, she deeply loves her daughter.
* MamaBear: She makes it clear to Ava during their first meeting that regardless of their estrangement, she won't tolerate her daughter being insulted.
--> '''Ava:''' Damn, genetics are wild! You're cool and she--
-->(Vanetta gives her a threatening look)
-->'''Ava (scared):''' --you would beat my ass, wouldn't you?"
-->'''Vanetta:''' Hm.
-->(Ava runs away)
-->'''Ava (Talking head):''' The key to never getting your ass beat? Knowing when someone can beat your ass.
* ParentalNeglect: Vanetta doesn't respond to Janine's texts or take her offers to visit her unless she needs something. She doesn't remember anything Janine has told her before and has completely forgotten that Janine and Tariq have been broken up for over a year at that point. Plus when Ayesha was brought up, she very clearly sounds disappointed in her as if she were a lost cause. While Vanetta does love her daughter, it is made very clear she is not a good parent.
[[/folder]]

!!!Portrayed by Zack Fox

!!!Portrayed by Reggie Hayes

!!!Portrayed by Iyana Halley

!!!Portrayed by Nikea Gamby-Turner and Reggie Conquest

!!!Portrayed by Nate' Jones

!!!Portrayed by Ambrit Millhouse

!!!Portrayed by Shirley Jordan

* NotSoAboveItAll: She tries to live as righteously as possible, but years of funding rejections lead her to try Melissa's more backhanded methods. Turns out she's pretty good at it.

!!!Portrayed by Larry Owens

** Although She and Ayesha do have a brief argument with each other, they do love and care about each other.

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