Lauren gets a gun to protect herself from Daniel. Jeremy won't tell Marilyn what happened to his mother. Scott gives Winslow High's first student to get accepted to Harvard an F.

Another school year is off to a booming start at Winslow High School -- an urban high school outside of Boston. Principal Steven Harper spends his days putting out fires, defending his faculty and just trying to keep it together. Lauren Davis, the idealistic head of the social studies department, and Harry Senate, a geology teacher with buried secrets, are embroiled in controversy for failing the star running back before a huge game with the cross-town rivals. But they both have bigger personal problems. Lauren has been asked out on a date by the icy vice principal and Harry has been put on probation for wielding a gun in one of his classes. When he's not dodging the star running back's lawyer or pulling a bully off the class geek, Principal Harper is trying to calm Ms. Hendricks. She left her class after scrawling ""Gone to kill myself, hope you're happy"" on the chalkboard. Meanwhile, English teacher Milton Buttle has become the star attraction on student Sheryl Holt's Web site. His un

Principal Harper's job is in jeopardy and an impending school board meeting has him on edge. Still, he can't help but get involved when Anthony Ward is found hanging upside down from the roof. It turns out the entire soccer team has ganged up on little Anthony since he thwarted their attempts to download answers for a test. Harper's decision to suspend the entire team, and thereby forfeit the soccer season, only adds fuel to Superintendent Marla Shinn's fire. Meanwhile, Harry Senate confesses to kissing Dana Poole and explains her blackmail scheme. Guber sends a shocked Dana to Bob ""Big Boy"" Lick for counseling but Harper does not suspend Senate. Coach Riley, on the other hand, is dealing with a football team who has marked one of their teammates as gay and will not shower with him. Plus, Lauren is left to defend herself when Superintendent Shinn questions the topic of cannibalism being taught in Lauren's classroom. At the school board meeting, things come to a head when all of the fa

Sheryl Holt breaks the news about Milton and Lisa's secret affair on her Web site. Suspicious, Harper confronts Buttle about his sexual involvement, but Milton disavows any wrongdoing, claiming that he and Lisa have started a ""Shakespeare Club."" Concerned about his friend, Riley decides to keep quiet for now, but begs Buttle to stop seeing his new ""girlfriend."" However, Riley has his hands full with another explosive situation - an anonymous bully has severely beaten three male students. When he discovers that the bully is actually an extremely overweight girl who was only defending herself from relentless verbal abuse, he enlists her for the wrestling squad. After enduring further derision, she defeats her opponent at her first match and earns the respect of her teammates and family. Meanwhile, Marylin suspects that a girl in her class is a victim of incest when the student writes a ""fictional"" essay about her father molesting her. Although her pupil denies it, Marylin alerts Big Boy

When Coach Riley is fired for withholding information about Buttle's affair, he hires Attorneys Ellenor Frutt and Jimmy Berluti. The stress of the lawsuit has Guber and Harper at each other's throats. Lauren discovers that Harry had dated another co-worker before her. The crossover starts on The Practice S05E14 The Day After (I).

Scott fires an art teacher twice. Christine Banks dies of a heart attack after winning a wrestling match. Harry finds out Dana Poole has become a stripper. Marla insults janitors and she finds one of her student's father is a janitor.

Hanson, looking for a way to increase his chances in adopting his niece, makes a sudden proposal to Claire (Missy Yager). Meanwhile, Guber challenges a student (rap star GQ guest stars) who wants to use rap music to show why Shakespeare ""sucks""; and Marilyn doesn't trust a record producer (hip-hop star/actor Method Man guest stars) who's pushing to sign Aisha to a recording deal. Also of note for this episode, the band Lifehouse (""Hanging by a Moment"") will perform at Doyle's Bar.

When a student writes a letter to Whitney Houston asking her to attend the prom with him, faculty and students are amazed that she accepts. Houston's attendance at the prom causes Aisha, who is set to perfrom, to get stage fright. Meanwhile, Harper presents a radical way to prevent the firing of teachers for budget reasons; and Danny asks Claire's father's permission to marry her.

It's Thanksgiving week, but no one seems particularly grateful. Guber, for example, is still upset over his onstage serenade at the charity show. Football player Jason Harrelson broke bully Malcolm White's arm during a fight in the hall. Buttle is starring in yet another Sheryl Holt original online humiliation cartoon. Last, but not least, Lauren discovered a senior sex posse which awards senior guys points for sex. In response to the sex posse scandal, Principal Harper organizes a sophomore assembly to preach the benefits of chastity. The teachers draw straws, and Lipschultz is chosen to head up the event. Later at the assembly, Lipschultz' boring speech turns shocking when he confesses to catching his beloved late wife in bed with another man. In his office, Harper confronts Jason Harrelson about the fight. Harrelson says he used a fighting technique that Harper taught Anthony in order to defend Anthony's honor. Repercussions ensue -- including a lawsuit by Malcolm's family and a con

The first day back at school has barely begun when the police show up looking for a murder suspect. A botched robbery has gone down a few blocks away and the panicked assailant, wearing a Winslow High letterman's jacket, shot and killed a man before heading towards school grounds. The police think the suspect is a student who is hiding on campus and demand to begin the search at once. Meanwhile, oblivious to the tense situation, Lisa and Buttle decide to have sex in the deserted boiler room. Unfortunately, Riley and an officer stumble upon the couple during the investigation and catch them in the act. Riley agrees to keep quiet about the affair for now, but urges Buttle to break it off before he loses his job…or worse. As the hunt continues, it becomes a code red condition, locking both teachers and students in their classrooms. Eventually, Lauren realizes that a pupil in her class might be the suspect but before she can take action, the desperate student whips out his gun and takes La

A student's mother complains about bus fumes to Steven. The tape of Lauren showering ends up on Sheryl Holt's webpage. Harry gets in trouble for knowing Tyronn was a murderer. Scott becomes Lisa Grier's co-teacher for her Shakespearre class.

Controversy swirls at Winslow over a reviled racial epithet, which becomes a heated subject of debate in a class taught by the provocative Danny Hanson, who fans the flames by alleging a double standard. ""Clearly,"" he tells his students, ""people seem OK with Chris Rock using the word...But if Garry Shandling did...you'd all be sick."" Word gets to Harper, who calls upon Hanson to cease the discussion because ""the word stirs up too much hate."" But when the teacher persists, the principal trumps him. ""Do you think you understand n----r, Danny? Do you think you really get it?""

Dana Poole returns to Winslow High as a mature, sexy, college freshman looking to spend time with Senate for a class project. Meanwhile, Lipschultz gets a visit from a 58-year-old man who says he's his son, and Hanson is accused of giving special treatment to Debbie.

Ronnie puts together a surprise birthday party for Senate but her good intentions quickly turns into chaos when all the guests resort to bickering and nitpicking at each other. Among the sparks at the party, Lipschultz snoops into Harper's briefcase and reveals his application for headmaster at an opposing school, while Lauren and Scott grow closer together as she has her own issues after being called a perfectionist.

Rehearsals are in full swing for the annual charity show. Marilyn is dismayed to learn that the main skit the students have prepared is a spoof of the Winslow High faculty -- complete with a gun-toting Senate and Buttle stuck inside a donkey! Elsewhere on campus, Lauren enters a stairwell and catches two student body presidential candidates engaged in a sex act. Lauren confronts the students -- Peter and Susan -- who deny any wrongdoing. However, when Peter later drops out of the election, it becomes clear that Susan's sexual favor was a motivating factor. On top of all this, Lauren must also deal with John LeBlonde. John's an excellent student on the recently suspended soccer team and needs Harper's approval to apply for a prestigious academic award. Harper is refusing to sign, not because John cheated -- he didn't -- but because he failed to report his teammates. Lauren is caught in the middle and is even more uncomfortable when John confesses that he is in love with her. The night o

Life seems to be one big lawsuit for Principal Harper. First, Mrs. Walsh, who was fired for spanking her students, sues for wrongful termination. Then, after Harper suspends Sheryl Holt for offensive content on her Web site, she sues to get the suspension overturned. Guber's brother, George, is representing Winslow High, but can't seem to defend himself against Guber. George set Guber up on a blind date with a touchy-feely masseuse, only for Guber to discover (mid-massage) that she's a call girl! Lauren isn't much luckier in love. Things are going well with Senate, but holt45.com has exclusive footage of them making out. Seems Sheryl wanted some retaliation for her suspension. Plus, Lauren gets knocked out by a launched breast implant. A female student had implant samples in her locker and her boyfriend thought it would be funny to launch one. Lauren was in the wrong hallway at the wrong time, and has the black eye to prove it. While Marylin counsels the girl on her self-image, Lauren

Lauren finds Harry hasn't told his friend about her. Six teachers resign and Marla must teach a class she doesn't know how to. Scott wins a contest to be a guest conductor and asks Marilyn out when she is too nice to him. Steven and Harry look for a missing teacher.

Harry advises Tyronn to leave town when he is shot at. Harvey sends Scott on a two-hour drive for a non-existing conducting opportunity. A student accuses the cheerleading teacher of touching her in inappropriate ways.

Seven teenagers, including Zack, are killed in a drunk driving accident and the students and teachers, both, must face their grief. Ronnie takes it especially hard having been close with Zack. Brooke's best friend was also killed in the accident. Meanwhile, Harvey tries to convince the students that he was George Washington in a previous life.

A sex scandal among teens rocks Winslow and prompts a mock trial of the accused instigator, a clean-cut senior who's defended, prosecuted and judged by his peers.

Anxiety besets Winslow staffers, scrutinized by the mayor's spy; a teacher's sex scandal is grist for the mill of student TV-journalists; boyfriend-related tensions affect school-musical star Aisha.

Steven's remarks prevent Scott from getting a job as a headmaster. Lauren finds out Daniel is stalking her. Marla worries when a convicted sex offender asks a younger girl to the senior prom. Marilyn suspects Jeremy has done something to his mother.

A revelation concerning Jeremy fractures the relationship between his mother and Guber; a plea from a death-row inmate troubles Harper; a student's ADD affliction disquiets Ronnie.

Lauren asks Guber to go to a concert with her on the night of his three-month anniversary with Meredith and he accepts. Which causes Meredith to be extremely angry. Danny is having problems with religion in school. One of Ronnie's students attempts suicide and is pregnant because of a sex crime after she is pregnated for the purpose of having the child for her parents. Harvey moves onto the state finals with his speech and places in the top three.

A student's illness rattles Senate, who's haunted by feelings of futility; a teen's eating disorder upsets Lauren, who's also unnerved by an web site advocating anorexia.