2nd Season
2001-2002
#23 Chapter Twenty-Three
#24 Chapter Twenty-Four
#25 Chapter Twenty-Five
#26 Chapter Twenty-Six
#27 Chapter Twenty-Seven
#28 Chapter Twenty-Eight
#29 Chapter Twenty-Nine
#30 Chapter Thirty
 		#31 Chapter Thirty-One
#32 Chapter Thirty-Two
#33 Chapter Thirty-Three
#35 Chapter Thirty-Five
#36 Chapter Thirty-Six
#34 Chapter Thirty-Four
#37 Chapter Thirty-Seven
#38 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 		#39 Chapter Thirty-Nine
#40 Chapter Forty
#41 Chapter Forty-One
#42 Chapter Forty-Two
#43 Chapter Forty-Three
#44 Chapter Forty-Four
Other seasons
1 | 2 | 3 | 4

#23 Chapter Twenty-Three: Aired Monday, October 29, 2001

The new English teacher, Danny Hanson, ruffles some feathers when he always speaks his mind. After being asked to be the faculty sponsor of a new Fat Girls student organization, Marla expresses her unhappiness with her weight. Harvey is under attack again by parents when he calls one of his students a dick in class. Harry bring in an old college friend, Ronnie Cooke, to speak about her job as a lawyer. Ronnie becomes inspired and decides to quit her job and become a high school teacher, despite her ex-boyfriend's efforts to talk her out of it. Harry lets two kids fight, supervised, in his classroom to keep them from fighting outside the classroom. Harry is surprised when one of the boys' fathers actually comes to thank him. Jeremy Peters dissects a human hand with the science teacher, Dr. Benjamin Harris, and Marylin becomes suspicious. Marylin finds out that Mrs. Peters is, indeed, missing a hand, but the strange woman claims that she lost it in a gardening accident.

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#24 Chapter Twenty-Four: Aired Monday, November 5, 2001

It's Ronnie's first day, and she is given a part-remedial class. In order to pique her students' curiosity, she starts talking to them about creationism and reincarnation. Unfortunately, she also piques the anger of Steven Harper and some parents. Another teacher, Marcia Fennel, tries to start a teacher movement against Ronnie because she's uncredentialed, but Danny reaches out to her as a friend. One of Lauren's promising seniors, Denise DeMarcos, faints during her Princeton interview and finds out she's pregnant. When Steven refuses to let her stay in school, she gets an abortion even though she originally said she wanted to keep it. Although Steven and Scott have reservations about Mrs. Peters continuing to be an assistant teacher with her new hook-hand, they can't find a good reason not to let her. Scott and Mrs. Peters end up bonding over the fact that they're both in therapy and both feel isolated. Mrs. Peters admits to Scott that her son locked her in her own basement and she accidentally cut off her hand trying to free herself. Marla finds out she has high cholesterol, and decides not only to lose weight, but to try to save Steven from his own fatness as well. Parents start complaining about a sex-advice column in the school newspaper.

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#25 Chapter Twenty-Five: Aired Monday, November 12, 2001

Scott and Meredith Peters start tenuously dating, even though she still freaks him out a little. Jeremy Peters starts getting worse grades and showing anger at school. During their first kiss outside Meredith's house, Scott is narrowly missed by a falling planter. Scott confronts Jeremy and warns him that he won't get special treatment now that Scott is dating his mother, but rather Scott will be keeping a closer eye on him. Harvey calls Lionel another bad name, this time a dirt-bag. Another student complains to Danny who enlists Ronnie's help for a new class project: suing Harvey for defamation of character. Steven passes the duty of giving the annual gun-lecture to Marla, and everyone is surprised when she delivers a moving and inspiration lecture. Harry's prize student, Jamaal, gets into Williams College, but Harry is disappointed and furious when he finds out Jamaal bought his college essay on the internet. Although Harry reports Jamaal himself to Williams, he not only convinces the admissions office to give Jamaal another chance to apply, but convinces Steven not to kick Jamaal out of school. Steven starts to doubt his ability as a principal because of his guilt over Denise DeMarco's abortion. Meredith complains to Steven about the sex advice column in the school newspaper.

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#26 Chapter Twenty-Six: Aired Monday, November 19, 2001

Meredith and Marla goes to war when Marla calls Meredith hook-lady. Marla rants to Scott about vending machines in school promoting bad health, and Scott explains to her that she should try to rant less, because sometimes she has good things to say, but no one listens to her ranting. The parents are still up in arms about the Dear Helen column in the newspaper with gives out sex advice to students. Louisa argues that it's addressing issues that parents are often unable to address themselves, and actually promotes safe sex and intercourse alternatives. Steven's activist daughter gets expelled from her private school and her parents agree to send her to Winslow. Guber represents Harvey in court against Debbie Nixon who represents Lionel Pratt. The judge agrees with Guber and dismisses the case without prejudice. Ronnie complains to Matthew that her students hate Shakespeare, so Matthew insists on coming in and performing a bit for them. Ronnie is scared that the students will laugh at him, and says so, but that just makes him more determined. During his performance, even Ronnie can't help laughing aloud, never mind her students who completely crack up.

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#27 Chapter Twenty-Seven: Aired Monday, November 26, 2001

Meredith asks Scott to spend the night and he freaks out and runs away. Scott and Meredith admit to each other that they're both a little nervous about intimacy, but Meredith still worries that Scott thinks she's strange. They visit their therapist together, and end up shopping together for a prosthetic hand for her to replace the hook. Danny comes home to find his fiance in bed with another man. He throws a phone at the man in anger and knocks him out. Danny and his fiance break up, and Danny finds himself apologizing to his class, particularly Debbie, for taking his anger out on him. Ronnie helps Danny through this difficult time not only with legal help but with good advice. Steven threatens to shut down the school newspaper if they don't stop printing the Dear Helen sex help column. He finds out that it's actually Louisa who writes the column, and rails on her for committing fraud passing herself off as a student. Lauren helps one of her students, a promising young musician, get legal assistance when she's offered a record deal, even though it means the student would have to drop out of school to go on tour. Lauren finds herself defending her decision to the student's parents.

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#28 Chapter Twenty-Eight: Aired Monday, December 3, 2001

Louisa feels like Steven is being cruel when he calls her "psychological wreakage" after she gives up writing her sex help column in the school newspaper. She decides to pursue an old dream and starts a sort of girl band with Marla and Marylin. After a kid almost dies from taking PMA when he thought it was ecstasy, Danny tries to warn his students about taking drugs from strange sources. Steven and his ex-wife worry when Brooke is discovered with a drug-testing kit, but she assures them she's not doing drugs and is just trying to keep her friends safe. Brooke admits that she really wishes they could all spend more time together as a family, even if her parents are divorced. Steven and Louanna take Brooke ice-skating. Ronnie defends one of her students when he accused of statutory rape, and convinces the father of the fifteen-year-old girl to drop the charges by threatening to drag the whole thing through the mud. The father reluctantly drops the charges, but threatens with possible future legal action. When Meredith's hook is stolen, Scott doggedly goes after the thief. Meredith feels more and more like a freak, and her therapist suggests she needs closure on losing her hand. Meredith and Scott organize a funeral for Meredith's hand, and Jeremy, Steven and Marla all attend.

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#29 Chapter Twenty-Nine: Aired Monday, December 10, 2001

Ronnie tells Matthew that she feels lonely when she's with him and breaks up with him. When he sings to her at the school Christmas pageant, she can't help but be charmed back into his arms. Danny reaches out to Debbie when she's depressed about not getting into BU early, and promises he'll do everything in his power to make sure that she gets in in the spring. Debbie thanks Danny and tells him that he's an amazing teacher. Scott is horrified when what he thought was a production of "Our Town" turns out to be a homosexually-themed "Our Town 2." Scott catches Jeremy Peters making out with another male student and decides, after consulting with Steven, not to tell Meredith because he wouldn't normally do so in his role as vice-principal. Scott buys Meredith a state-of-the-art new prosthetic hand for Christmas after she settles for one she can afford. Meredith admits she's falling in love with Scott. Harry worries that a student of his, Max, is fixated on death, until Max's mother informs him that her son is in remission from Leukemia. Harry figures out that Max is actually out of remission, but isn't consulting a doctor yet because he wants to have a happy holiday with his family and he knows this is probably his last chance. Brooke mistakenly thinks her parents are getting back together, and her parents sit her down and make sure that she understands that they're not. However, later, Louanna approaches Steven and asks him if he wants to give it another try. Steven says he needs to think about it, but joins his ex-wife and daughter in tree-trimming. Louisa, Marla and Marylin's singing trio is the hit of the school Christmas pageant.

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#30 Chapter Thirty: Aired Monday, January 7, 2002

The whole school is up in arms over the homosexual version of "Our Town," some in favor and some against. Meredith finds out that Jeremy is having sex with another boy, and that Scott knew something about it and didn't say anything. Meredith is scared she made her son gay. Scott and Meredith reconcile after she blows up at him, and Jeremy admits to Scott that he's bisexual. Steven is surprised when a student from ten years ago that he doesn't even remember requests his old teacher's presence at his execution for murder in Delaware. Steven talks to the boy, but ends up not attending the execution after sympathizing with the father of the girl that was raped and murdered. Ronnie convinces one of her students, a frantic boy with ADD named Zach, to go back on Ritalin even though it stunts his musical and artistic creativity.

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#31 Chapter Thirty-One: Aired Monday, January 14, 2002

When Marylin assigns her students to take pictures that tell a story, one of her students, Darren, takes a picture of two young children that he babysits. Unfortunately, the kids are naked and in the shower. Although Marylin doesn't believe that the picture is really pornography, she has to bring it to Steven's attention, and unfortunately the kids' mother and social services get involved as well. Meredith, Scott and Jeremy go to family therapy, where it comes out that Jeremy mainly resents Scott simply because his mother is able to show Scott affection, whereas she's never shown Jeremy himself any affection. Meredith assures her son that she loves him more than anyone else in the world. Debbie Nixon's mother fears her daughter may be having an affair with her teacher, Danny, but Steven discovers that Debbie and Danny have simply been volunteering to help disabled kids with aquatic therapy in the afternoon. Unfortunately, Debbie's mother is so freaked out that she reads her daughter's diary, and finds out that Debbie does, in fact, have a secret crush on Danny. Steven tells Danny, who talks it out with Debbie, and against all advice, they continue volunteering together afternoons. Harvey is randomly selected to represent Winslow High in a speech contest about what teaching means. His speech is bigoted and ignorant, but he makes the finals anyway because so few teachers from Winslow's district entered the contest.

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#32 Chapter Thirty-Two: Aired Monday, January 21, 2002

Meredith gets bent out of shape when she finds out Scott is going to a concert with Lauren. It turns out that Meredith is particularly insecure because she has told Scott that she loves him, but he has never said it back. He finally, and very eloquently, tells her that he loves her. Ronnie tries to come to the aid of a female student who is five months pregnant and seems to be trying to make herself miscarry. It turns out that the teen is carrying her parents' child in hopes that the baby will be a match for her mother's necessary kidney transplant. Ronnie calls social services in horror, but regrets her decision when social services removes the teen from her parents' home. Danny starts to lose faith in his own teaching skills when he feels ill-prepared to help his students through this time of war and terrorism. Steven, against his better judgment, lets Harvey give the "what teaching means to me" final speech, and Harvey eloquently talks about the problems with the teaching system and gets a third place prize.

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#33 Chapter Thirty-Three: Aired Monday, January 28, 2002

Steven finds out his daughter, Brooke, is dating a 27-year-old, and blows his top. Brooke's boyfriend, who turns out to be a nice guy, realizes that Steven's concerns are legitimate, and breaks up with Brooke. Brooke forgives her father, but tells him that she's thinking of going to school in Cambridge, because it's too hard to go to school where she's the principal's daughter. Steven, while he knows that Brooke is right, finally opens up to his daughter and asks her to stay at Winslow... not for her, but for him. She agrees. Harry is sick of his kids in the Dungeon being considered the stupid students, so he challenges Scott's award-winning debate team. With only two days to prepare, and no formal debate training, the Dungeon kids do a great job, only losing by three points. While Lauren doubts Harry's motives in challenging Scott's kids, Harry does manage to raise morale in his class.

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#35 Chapter Thirty-Five: Aired Monday, February 4, 2002

One of Lauren's students, Austin, uncovers an insidious plot to bomb the school, but Lauren soon realizes that Austin was behind the plot as well, and wanted to make himself a hero by reporting it. Marla gets angry when she notices three popular pretty girls embarassing another girl by dressing her up like a whore. At first, Marla yells at the girls, but after taking some calming advice from Steven, she gives a powerful lectures on the evils of bullying that actually causes the popular girls to sincerely apologize to their victim. Danny goes out of his way to help a kid with Cerebral Palsy, Hunter, attend classes at Winslow. Danny is furious when he realizes that the one day Hunter spent at Winslow was only a ploy by his parents to prove that Winslow couldn't accomodate their son so that they could get his private tuition paid for by the state. The faculty puts on a talent show for the students. Ronnie tricks Marylin into doing a duet with Harvey. Steven puts together a skit to showcase his Ralph Kramden impression, but Danny steals the show. Scott doesn't really understand how to do an impression. Mr. Lick sings with Louisa, Marylin and Marla. The students give diplomas to their teachers to show their appreciation.

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#36 Chapter Thirty-Six: Aired Monday, February 11, 2002

Lauren uses her own past experience with anorexia to help educate a student's parents. Lauren makes sure a "pro-ana" web site, run by a student at Winslow on Winslow's server, is shut down. When Harry's student, Max Warner, dies from leukemia, Harry wants to quit teaching. Both Ronnie and Jamaal Crenshaw try to talk him out of it. Scott is horrified and amazed when he watches Meredith skillfully squash a blossoming relationship between her son, Jeremy, and Brooke Harper. Meredith pretends to be so excited about the relationship and tries to get so involved that she turns Jeremy off Brooke.

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#34 Chapter Thirty-Four: Aired Monday, February 18, 2002

The whole school is rocked by a drunk driving accident in which three Winslow students are killed, including Zach Delray, the student Ronnie got back on Ritalin. Ronnie considers quitting teaching, feeling that the work is too hard the rewards so few and far between. Brooke, who lost a best friend in the accident, questions her belief in God and wants to sue the drunk driver. Harvey starts talking to his class about reincarnation, and actually convinces his students that he might have been George Washington in a former life. Steven has Marla supervise Meredith's calculus class. Harry tells one of his students, Martin, that he's going to have to repeat his senior year. Martin punches Harry in the face, and Harry punches back, knocking Martin unconscious. Harry and Martin make their peace and Harry convinces Martin to stay and finish high school, even if it takes another year.

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#37 Chapter Thirty-Seven: Aired Monday, February 25, 2002

Danny Hanson puts his job on the line when he starts a discussion in his class about the word "nigger." Steven tells him to shut down the discussion, but Danny can't help it when his class continues to have things to say. Finally, Steven blows up at Danny, telling him that as white man he cannot teach this subject, so Danny tells Steven to teach the class himself... which Steven does. Harvey is surprised when Scott supports him in a negative recommendation he made to Amherst for one of his students. However, when Amherst asks Scott his opinion of Harvey, Scott continues in the vein of honesty and tells Amherst that he doesn't think much of Harvey's intellect. Ronnie finds out that one of her students is living with her schizophrenic mother in a Volkswagen and tries to help out without getting the student separated from her mother.

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#38 Chapter Thirty-Eight: Aired Monday, March 11, 2002

Scott investigates when a student, Marcie, accuses Meredith of hitting her. Scott tries to be impartial, and even asks for Harry's help in interviewing Marcie. In the end, although Meredith denies it, Scott believes Marcie's accusation, and fires Meredith. Meredith tells him this is a cowardly way to break up with her and walks out, leaving the hand Scott bought her behind. When one of Lauren's students, Sylvie, has an anxiety attack and ends up in the hospital, Marla accuses Lauren of being too tough a teacher. Steven consults Mr. Lick and finds out that most of the students suffering from anxiety are in Marylin and Lauren's classes. Marylin and Lauren defend their teaching methods, but Lauren worries that Marla might be right. Some of Lauren's fears are confirmed when Sylvie admits that Lauren sometimes scares her students with her disapproval. Ronnie tries to convince a student, Mikki, not to pose nude for men's magazines, because she might be endangering her future. It turns out Ronnie herself once posed, and although the pictures were never published they're still out there and they still haunt her. Ronnie starts to feel more than just friendship for Harry. Danny tries to get Marylin to go out with him, but strikes out.

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#39 Chapter Thirty-Nine: Aired Monday, March 18, 2002

The coach of the successful Winslow baseball team finds out that his star player has been taking supplements that are basically steroids. Steven finds out that Sylvie, the student who had the anxiety attack last week, had been taking methamphetamines to help her study. Ronnie doubts her calling as a teacher when she's duped into giving a student drug money and the student almost dies from an overdose. Steven starts a faculty outreach to fight drugs and Marla gives a moving speech to the parents to inspire them to talk to their kids about drugs. Marylin finds out that two of her female students have been having sex chats online, and the man they've been chatting is a teacher, Dr. Harris. Dr. Harris fights to keep his job, but ends up resigning, humiliated.

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#40 Chapter Forty: Aired Monday, April 22, 2002

When a black man comes to Harvey and shows him proof that he is the teacher's illegitimate son, Harvey initially rejects him, not just because he's black but because Harvey doesn't want to deal with having a son. With some kind words from Louisa, who admits that she also comes from a biracial background, Harvey finally decides to talk to his son, and is overwhelmed when he meets his grandson and three little great-grandchildren. Harry has a strange reaction when an old student, Dana Poole, returns to interview him for a college project. They talk about the kiss they shared a year ago and both get some closure from their tumultuous student/teacher relationship. Scott investigates the charge that some students get extra help on what will be on tests from teachers that either favor them or get paid to tutor them.

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#41 Chapter Forty-One: Aired Monday, April 29, 2002

Ronnie throws a surprise party for Harry's birthday that quickly turns into a disaster. Ronnie admits she's jealous when Harry shows up with Dana Poole as his date. Harvey discovers Steven is applying to work at a private school and all of the teachers lash out at their possibly defecting leader. Lauren feels attacked for being a perfectionist while Scott is upset that Steven recommended Marla as a possible replacement principal. Meredith shows up, trying to be part of the gang again, but after Steven insults her everyone fears she jumped off Ronnie's balcony. Scott and Meredith get some closure to their relationship, and Scott and Lauren bond in their misery. Harvey videotapes the whole disaster. Steven finally assures everyone he's not going anywhere... yet.

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#42 Chapter Forty-Two: Aired Monday, May 6, 2002

The school prom is coming up and the students are in an outrage because a transgendered boy is running for prom queen. Harry tries to talk the boy, Robin, out of it, because he worries for the boy's safety, but Robin insists on running and ends up winning. Marylin is incensed when she finds popular pretty girls auctioning themselves off as prom dates, but Scott tells her there's nothing she can do about it. Harvey helps Marla reunite with an old high school boyfriend. Ronnie encourages the formerly homeless Natalie to attend the prom even though her date flaked and Natalie shows up looking fabulous in one of Ronnie's old dresses and immediately gets asked to dance. Scott faints with joy when Lauren accepts his invitation to the prom.

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#43 Chapter Forty-Three: Aired Monday, May 13, 2002

Marla thinks Danny is out of control when she finds out that he's been sending letters home to his overweight students' parents warning them of the health risks of obesity. Marylin tries to help a student who compulsively eats her own hair. Scott questions Steven's leadership when it seems like more and more teachers have no regard for policy. Jamaal comes to Harry for help after being an unwilling accomplice to a murder committed by his brother, Amaad. Harry and Ronnie try to convince Jamaal to turn himself and his brother in, but Jamaal can't do it, so Harry turns him in. Amaad confronts Harry, and Harry tries to call the cops, so Amaad knifes him.

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#44 Chapter Forty-Four: Aired Monday, May 20, 2002

Ronnie finds Harry bloody and unconscious in his classroom after his attacker passes her on his way out. Following surgery, Harry's condition is listed as critical, and a guilty Steven keeps a vigil at his ICU bedside, leaving Scott to run things back at school. Ronnie gets Jamaal to tell her where his brother might be found, but then can't bring herself to lie in court that she saw the older brother's face as he ran out of the school. Ronnie manages to convince Jamaal to testify against his brother, but Jamaal is saved from having to go through with it when Harry miraculously wakes up. Ronnie tells Harry she loves him and they agree to try dating once he recovers. Lauren and Scott's fledgling relationship gets a boost from the emotional circumstances.

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Other seasons
1 | 2 | 3 | 4