Harper's meeting with a parent becomes heated; a new teacher stirs things up in the classroom; the teachers must evaluate one another.

An enraged student slaps Marla's face in front of the class, and Marla slaps her back; Hanson discovers Allison behaves like a bully at school; Carmen asks Harper to remove Jake from her class.

Views on affirmative action divide the students; the teachers hope to quell the resulting tensions by debating the subject in front of the student body.