‘Abbott Elementary’ Bosses on Ava’s Career-Changing Consequences & What It Means for the Future

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Abbott Elementary Season 4 Episode 18, “Audit.”]

Consequences came knocking for Abbott Elementary‘s principal, Ava (Janelle James), in the latest episode, “Audit,” as she was unceremoniously fired from her position after it was discovered she accepted bribes from the local golf course.

Sparked by suspicions from her frenemy Crystal (Tatyana Ali), an audit from the district put Ava and the faculty in its crosshairs when they arrived ahead of schedule for an inspection. Initially believing they had a day to prepare, Janine (Quinta Brunson), Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and the rest of the Abbott crew offered to pitch in hiding the new computers and other supplies they received from the golf course.

Still, they nearly pulled off a last-minute attempt to hide the goods until golf course lawyer Miles Nathaniel came strutting into the school announcing he had new supplies for the Abbott team, using the word “bribe” along with it. Realizing they’d been caught, Ava decides to take the fall, claiming responsibility after she’s led to believe that she won’t be fired for her actions, but the comment made by the district only applied to teachers, leaving her in the lurch.

Disney / Gilles Mingasson

After playing with metaphorical fire for so long, Ava is finally facing the consequences of her actions in a shocking moment for the show. But did she see it coming? “I don’t think so because… she was thinking going into this, that she was Teflon,” executive producer Patrick Schumacker says. As for her fired fate, he adds, “We didn’t start the season by saying Ava was going to have to pay the piper and take the heat for everybody from the get-go. We knew that we had written our characters into a corner with the payola from the golf course, and we knew that at some point there [would] be consequences of some nature.”

When the district pushed for answers around the bribe, it was hinted that the teacher guilty of taking them from the golf course would be suspended, but through research, the show’s creatives learned that the rules are different for principals in a world that’s already short-staffed on educators, as was highlighted in Barbara’s (Sheryl Lee Ralph) taking on of the music program in this episode. “We had talked a couple of years ago to a teacher who [revealed that] the teacher’s union does a really good job of protecting the teachers, but I guess the principal’s union isn’t as robust,” executive producer Justin Halpern tells TV Insider.

But fret not as Ava’s firing doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of her. “The nice thing about our show is that we have this documentary crew, it feels natural, even if a character does peel away from the show for a bit, [to follow them],” Schumacker says. But that doesn’t mean Ava’s former principal position will remain vacant either.

Disney / Gilles Mingasson

“That position will need to be filled, and that is all I’ll say for right now,” Halpern teases. In the midst of Ava’s impending absence, Halpern adds that the characters will “reflect on what they loved about Ava and what is missing with Ava [gone]. And then what happens at a school when there is someone who needs to be replaced, and how does the school district react to that, and how does the community react to that?”

Despite her initial flaws in the job, Ava showed steady improvement over the seasons regarding her care for the faculty and students, and she built a very specific social structure that is now being disrupted. “Ava is a principal unlike any other. She had a sort of ecosystem that she controlled single-handedly,” Schumacker points out. “And what would the fallout be there when this sort of delicate ecosystem she lords over is completely disrupted?”

The heartbreaking aspect of Ava’s firing was that it came from district worker Manny (Josh Segarra), who had to clarify what his friend was in store for when she initially asked for her suspension details. “We specifically wanted it to be him and not some faceless person who just comes from the district because we wanted to show how unemotional bureaucracy is,” Halpern says, adding that it serves to highlight “that you can form these emotional bonds with people who work in these bureaucratic institutions, but the bureaucracy that they are all steeped in supersedes anything because that’s what these bureaucracies breed.”

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“The machine is unforgiving and Manny is just a cog,” Schumacker chimes in.

As for whether or not Crystal should watch her back moving forward, Schumacker teases, “That story is not over.” But don’t expect Ava to play a victim either as Halpern adds, “I would say Ava is someone who understands the game in which she plays and when she has been bested or struck down, she has an understanding of it and is not as wounded as someone who doesn’t normally play the game.”

What did you think of Ava getting fired from Abbott? Let us know in the comments section, below, and stay tuned to see what’s next following this major event as Season 4 continues on ABC.

Abbott Elementary, Wednesdays, 8:30/7:30c, ABC