‘Abbott Elementary’ Pays It Forward as ABC Gives Books to Underfunded Schools

Kelli Boyle March 10, 2022, 12:29 pm

Abbott Elementary ABC — ABC/Prashant Gupta

Abbott Elementary is paying it forward. Tied to the new comedy, ABC is teaming up with Scholastic to provide free book fairs to underfunded elementary schools nationwide.

The book fairs will take place between March 14 and March 18 at Title 1 schools, per Variety. Philadelphia’s Harrity Elementary — the inspiration behind Abbott Elementary‘s titular school — is one of the schools participating. At the fairs, each student will get two free books and each teacher will get 10.

Other participating schools are Diehl Elementary in Erie, Pennsylvania, Bond Elementary in Chicago, Dayton’s Bluff Elementary in Minneapolis, Freeman Elementary in Flint, Michigan, and Cortada Elementary and Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary in Los Angeles.

And our first school is the elementary school I went to, Harrity ❤️ let’s get it @Scholastic 😤 https://t.co/5u4EXWATu0

— quinta brunson (@quintabrunson) March 9, 2022

ABC also relaunched its Traveling Teacher’s Lounge initiative on January 3 in tandem with the book fairs. The lounges provide teachers with Scholastic books, classroom supplies, breakfast, and Abbott Elementary merchandise. The first group of traveling lounges were set up in schools in Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, resulting in donations of more than 1,000 books, 10,000 notebooks, 100,000 writing utensils, and 15,000 arts and crafts materials.

The lounges will next be set up in Dallas, Texas on March 10, Houston, Texas on March 11, Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 15, Phoenix, Arizona on March 16, Reno, Nevada on March 18, and Los Angeles on March 22.

“Abbott Elementary shines light on and reflects the experiences and challenges faced by our country’s educators,” Erin Weir, executive vice president of marketing for ABC & General Entertainment, said in a statement. “We had an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility to amplify that mission in our series marketing efforts. Giving back to this deserving community has been a pillar of our campaign from day one, and thanks to several incredible partnerships, like our collaboration with Scholastic, we’ve had the great fortune of celebrating teachers through supply donations, grassroots activations, and more, while also sharing the joy of our hilarious new comedy.”

When Does 'Abbott Elementary' Come Back?

“Our mission at Scholastic has always been to support teachers and provide them with the resources and materials needed to build warm, positive classroom experiences for their students,” Billy DiMichele, senior vice president of creative development at Scholastic, said. “That’s why we are so thrilled to team up with ABC and Abbott Elementary — a show dedicated to uplifting educators and reflecting their experiences — to put books into the classrooms that need them most and get kids excited about reading and learning.”

Quinta Brunson (who created the series and attended Harrity Elementary as a child) stars in the workplace comedy, where her and her colleagues’ biggest struggle is lack of funding for their school. The series balances the real struggles of the American education system with the uplifting humor of its ensemble, who — despite their differences and squabbles — consistently band together to provide fulfilling learning experiences for their students.

Abbott Elementary is currently on a brief hiatus. It will return with Episode 10 on March 22 on ABC. There will be 13 episodes total in Abbott Elementary Season 1.

Abbott Elementary Returns Tuesday, March 22, 9 pm EST, ABC