page_title: The PTA Disbands!
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: The PTA Disbands! / Production
caption_attribution_description: David Mirkin
context_page_description: "The PTA Disbands!" is the 21st episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 16, 1995. In the episode, Edna Krabappel organizes a strike of Springfield Elementary's teachers union to protest Principal Skinner's miserly school spending.
  The episode was written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Swinton O. Scott III, with David Mirkin serving as show-runner. The episode includes cultural references to a number of books highlighted by Edna Krabappel as having been banned by other schools – including William Shatner's TekWar, Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman, and The Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin.
  The episode received favorable mention in books on The Simpsons and media reviews, and was cited by academicians, who analyzed portions of the episode from physics and psychology perspectives.
  During a 2004 strike by voice actors for The Simpsons during salary negotiations, media sources cited an iconic quote from Homer to Lisa in the episode about the teachers' strike.
context_section_description: The episode was written by Jennifer Crittenden. She came into the writers' room and pitched the idea that there should be a teachers' strike in an episode. Then-show runner David Mirkin thought the episode had a lot of potential, and much of it is based on his experience as a child with schools running out of money. Despite the title of the episode, at no point does the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) actually disband. The title was suggested by Mirkin and was intended to poke fun at Crittenden, who thought the most exciting part of the teachers going on strike would be that the PTA might disband. In addition to this, Mirkin added a character to the episode who, on thinking the PTA has disbanded, jumps panicking out of a window. He jumps back in the same window when he is told the PTA has not disbanded.
  The episode was directed by Swinton O. Scott III. In the opening shot of the episode, the bus that the children travel in to the field trip had to vibrate up and down to give the impression that it did not have bumpers and that it was falling apart. Scott said it was difficult to animate the scene because of the vibrating and the backgrounds panning. Milhouse's tutor in the episode is based on the American actor Tony Randall.
caption: Much of the episode is based on David Mirkin's experience as a child with schools running out of money.
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