Staff members head to the Pennsylvania Educational Conference; Gregory reluctantly attends after a disagreement with Amber; Jacob finds himself charmed by the Addington teachers.
Abott Elementary rallies to fight threat from Charter Schools, Meanwhile Ava plans a festival to draw parents to school and collect their signatures for a petition.
After Jacob reveals a detail about his personal life, Janine realizes she doesn't know the other teachers as well as she thought; Gregory's stern teaching approach is causing his whole class to underperform.
A student steals a bag of candy meant to be given out to the kids at the end of the day and starts distributing it during school hours; Janine is invited to a Halloween party by an old friend and starts to reconsider her personal life.
While on Abbott's annual zoo field trip, Tariq reveals that he has been offered a job in New York; Janine struggles with a big choice; Barbara starts questioning her future after finding out her favorite tuatara has been retired.
After a student is caught smoking, the staff come together to revamp the outdated drug policy; Janine tries to prep the new substitute teacher for her class, but finds it challenging to give up her former role.
When the students start participating in a new online trend that causes disruption to the school, the teachers band together to put an end to it; Mr. Johnson provides comforting life advice to Gregory; the teachers meet Jacob's boyfriend.
The teachers are back for development week, a time to prepare for the upcoming year; Janine is determined to start the year off right and leave her problems at home; Ava runs a side hustle out of the school parking lot.
Janine is convinced by a friend to go to a popular hookah club where she runs into unexpected colleagues; Jacob crashes Barbara and Melissa's traditional holiday dinner and in the process begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas.
Janine is out sick for the day, so Ava grows desperate and must step in to help out; Barbara and Melissa revel in the quieter-than-normal teacher's lounge.