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Teacher Layoffs Go Hollywood: Zooey Deschanel's 'New Girl' Character to Be Pink Slipped

She'll follow in the footsteps of 150,000 other laid off teachers.

Liz Dwyer
By Liz DwyerJul 28, 2012
Liz Dwyer
Liz Dwyer is the education editor at GOOD. She was previously the education editor at TakePart and has written about education, parenting, and social justice for several national websites and print publications.
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It looks like the most popular elementary school teacher on network television, Zooey Deschanel's quirky, manic pixie dream girl character Jess on the hit Fox TV show "New Girl", will experience what over 150,000 other American educators have over the past two years. Jess is about to be laid off due to budget cuts.

Indeed, executive producer Liz Meriwether told Entertainment Weeklythat Jess will have "to restart her life and figure out who she is and what she wants to do." And, says Meriwether, the show plans to let Jess "have a moment of questioning who she is, why she's a teacher, and if that's really what she wants to do."

Given that 46 percent of teachers leave the profession within five years, it would be pretty realistic to see Jess doing what so many other former educators have done: deciding that she's had enough of the relatively low pay, poor working conditions, and being treated unprofessionally. In the meantime, perhaps we'll see her making ends meet like other laid off educators with a job bagging groceries at Trader Joe's.


teacher layoffseducation budget cutszooey deschaneleducationmedia

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