The sitcom that follows the (hilarious!) lives of the teachers and staff at an inner-city Philadelphia public school is a hit by any measurement. Even before its Season 1 finale in April 2022, Abbott Elementary was ABC’s first-ever show to quadruple its premiere show ratings since its original air date, and gave the network its highest viewer numbers since the Modern Family series finale in 2020. But Brunson hasn’t forgotten the real-life schools and teachers in Philadelphia—including one very special educator she had, Miss Abbott, who she even named her show after. Brunson is also the daughter of a teacher and attended Philly schools; today, she supports where she came from by coordinating Scholastic book fairs for underfunded schools and even donating part of her show’s marketing budget to Philadelphia teacher supplies. Now, with May being Teacher Appreciation Month, Brunson is partnering with Box Top for their “Teachers Make Us Better” digital campaign, in which parents and students (and others!) can participate to give back to their own schools and favorite teachers. To find out more about her partnership with Box Tops (and a big donation to her old elementary school!), Parade sat down with Brunson to talk pretzel sales, what’s coming up for Season 2 of Abbott Elementary and how, even if you don’t have children, you can support teachers in your community.
You’re partnering with Boxtops to donate $20,000 to your old school, Andrew Hamilton [in Philadelphia]. I’m wondering if, when you were a kid, you did school fundraisers, bake sales… what kinds of things did you do then to raise money for school?
I remember doing a pretzel sale, actually, specifically at Andrew Hamilton. My teacher, Miss Abbott, had us sell pretzels to the rest of the school to raise funds for our classroom and also to go on a nice class field trip at the end of the year. And pretzels are just so special to Philly, we really cleaned up, cleaned house. She used it to do a lesson on having a business, and it was really incredible.
Do you know yet what they’re going to use the money for?
No, but I assume something great; whatever it is that they’ll be needing. I think that’s the thing, needs are different from school to school. Whatever they could need this year, I hope they get to use this for.
Which character from Abbott Elementary would be most into Box Tops, other than Janine? I feel like it would be competitive for them.
[laughs] Honestly I think they would all be. I think all the teachers at Abbott would think it’s a wonderful thing. It’s also just a staple of education, something I think everyone looks forward to doing, teachers, students… it’s a fun thing that connects them to each other. In my experience and the experience of my mother, it was a fun initiative that always took place every year.
What kinds of gifts would your mother receive for Teacher Appreciation or holidays and which kinds of gifts did she like most?
My mom always liked a good lotion set. And she would know they came from, like, Rite-Aid or something. She appreciated it all the same.
I’m wondering if you ever thought it was a risk to pitch a show about inner-city schools to ABC? What made you believe in the show?
No one really told me it was a risk, but I was already aligned with Warner Bros and then ABC, the network. And they all really believed in the project. And I think if anyone didn’t really believe in it, I just wouldn’t have like, worked with them. But so many people saw the beauty of the show. And this was pre-pandemic, so the world hadn’t even been talking about teachers and education, they just saw a good show. And I was so into it because I could see the entire vision for the show, which is always special to me; when I can see multiple episodes without trying. It’s that well-drawn out for me and so that made me believe in it, ultimately, it was just that I had a very well drawn-out show ready to go, in my head.
There are three Black women in the main cast, which is super unusual–you and I know sometimes there’s only one, and [often] it’s the best friend who doesn’t really get that much to do. How did you conceptualize Janine, Ava and Barbara separately? Did you draw on people you know?
It was so easy to do because it was so innate to, kind of a Philadelphia public school, like natural build–so I didn’t really feel like I was actively making three different Black women characters. This is the makeup of a public school. And I think that’s what’s important about telling different kinds of stories, instead of trying to tell the same stories we’ve seen over and over and just inserting Black people into them. I think that’s what creates those one-dimensional characters. But going to environments where there are naturally are different types of Black people helps to create more well fleshed out and well-defined characters. A Philadelphia public school, all the people you see there–there would be a Melissa, there would be a Jacob, a Barbara, a Gregory. So it helps to make the kind of characters you’re talking about, like three Black women on screen at the same time who are funny in three different ways. Ava is very much inspired by cousins and aunts of mine–people who I love, people who are so so funny in the way Ava is. And Barbara is a lot of matriarchal figures in my life, including my mom. And Janine’s some friends of mine.
At the end of Season 1, everyone seemed to be in a good space. In Season 2, is there going to be something that shakes the boat, or will we see more of a natural evolution of the characters?
Natural evolving of the characters. It’s fun that our show is so based in kind of small realities because it allows us to make minor changes in really big ways. And I think that you can [expect to] see more. Ideally, we’d like to have this show go on for a while; part of timing that out is making very small evolutions seem large. Like in the first season, we ended it on Janine finding her teacher voice. Really small, but we use 13 episodes to get there. So I think you can expect more of that kind of growth: very minor, but really big and the audience hopefully cares about it as much as our characters do, by the end.
I know that you’ve donated some show money to teachers; how do you feel people without kids can support teachers in their local communities?
One main thing they can always do is show up to public meetings for the local public schools in their area. A lot of people don’t know that anybody can attend those things. Another cool way they can help this month is by downloading the Box Tops for Education app and putting in the referral code TEACHERSMAKEUSBETTER during registration–they can earn $5 for school of their choice when they scan their first receipt in May. So that’s a really cool way that anybody can help. Next, 160+ Well-Deserved Freebies and Discounts for Teachers, Including Teacher Appreciation Week Deals Offered Now!
