In the Netflix original, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Sabrina Spellman divides her time and academic career between The Academy of Unseen Arts, for witches and warlocks, and Baxter High School, for mortals. Since Sabrina is half-mortal, she spent most of her childhood and teenage years attending mortal schools like Baxter High and, as such, made connections while attending.
Once she was to start attending the Academy after turning sixteen, Sabrina struggled and continues to struggle to give up her mortal connections and attends Baxter High, almost at her leisure. In spite of Sabrina’s fondness for Baxter High, it is not without its flaws. Here are ten things that do not make sense about Baxter High.
The Cheer Squad
The cheer squad at Baxter High is called “The Ravenettes,” named after the Baxter High’s mascot, the raven, as revealed when Sabrina and her best friend Roz audition and subsequently join the team. While it is perfectly logical and reasonable to name the cheer squad, it does not make sense that the name is a feminized version of the mascot when it can just be named after the mascot.
Baxter High is quickly established in the series as a more traditional (i.e. more misogynistic) school, which could explain why the need for a different name for a cheer squad. However, the misogyny rooted in the school aside, the name for the squad is still odd and does not excuse people feeling the need to add a more clear gender to the name of an animal that does not have separate names for the separate genders of its species.
The Sports Teams
Greendale is a small town, and therefore, Baxter is a small high school. Because it is a small school, it obviously cannot support the wide variety of sports that may be offered at a high school, including offering boys’ and girls’ teams.
Even still, the only teams discussed at Baxter High are the cheer squad, the football team, and the basketball team. No other sports for girls, other than cheerleading, is mentioned, making viewers wonder if there are any sports offered at Baxter High other than the three already listed. Even small-town schools have more than three sports to offer, meaning the fact that Baxter High only has three teams doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The Courseload
During season one, when Sabrina was trying to have the best of her mortal and witch lives, she attended Baxter High School full-time and The Academy of Unseen Arts part-time. Her divided time between the two schools was a major plot point for the season, meaning that much of Sabrina’s focus is on attending both schools and keeping the witch school a secret from her mortal friends.
In spite of the balance of the two schools being a major plot point, the course load is not discussed much. Sabrina never indicates being stressed by her schoolwork from the two different schools. In fact, when her Aunt Zelda brought up the matter of coursework to Father Blackwood, Zelda indicated that Sabrina wasn’t being challenged enough, and that was at the Academy, not Baxter High.
Ms. Wardwell’s Drastic, Overnight Change
At the very end of the pilot episode, Ms. Wardwell the mortal is killed and possessed by Lillith, also known as Madame Satan. Upon the possession, Ms. Wardwell went from a conservative-looking and timid person to someone who is confident in herself and appears more liberated, which is most noticeable through her new hairstyle.
Only Sabrina and her friends are depicted as confused and even then, they only seem briefly confused. They then, like every other student and faculty member, accept Ms. Wardwell’s change. What makes no sense about this is that no one asked Ms. Wardwell about it, like people tend to do.
Accommodating Theo’s Gender Identity
Theo Putnam was assigned female at birth and for the first season was known as Susie. During the second season, he came out as a transgender male. His friends accepted his gender identity immediately, but his teammates had some more trouble at first, expressing transphobic tendencies.
In spite of this, Theo was allowed by faculty and administration to use the boys’ locker room immediately upon coming out. While this is good and progressive of Baxter High, it does not align with its misogynistic tendencies, meaning that, unfortunately, it does not make sense. Even though it does not make sense, it is good that the writers and the production team opted not to exploit transphobia too much for the sake of conflict.
Roz’s Treatment While Blind
While Roz was temporarily blind, she asked to isolate herself from other students and independently study in the school library using tapes. Ms. Wardwell made it clear that Roz had made the choice to study this way and the school was merely respecting Roz’s choice.
However, in spite of respecting Roz’s decision, a lot of how the school helped Roz does not make sense. From the way Roz indicated she was handling going blind, she was offered no counseling or in-school support system. Furthermore, she was not supervised by a certified or non-certified instructor. Even though Roz was studying independently she would still need a support system and supervision from an instructor.
Principal Hawthorne’s Treatment Of Students And Faculty
Principal Hawthorne seemed to be one of the main proponents of the school’s misogynistic culture while he was still alive. While he unfortunately yet understandably had to monitor the Language Arts curriculum and which books were taught, he also was against the formation of a club by girls for girls and therefore prevented an attempt to create a safe space for girls on campus.
Furthermore, he persistently sexually harassed Ms. Wardwell, who turned down his advances. His actions went unpunished, likely as a result of the misogynistic culture of the school. This does not justify or give an adequate explanation for why such behavior would go unpunished, though.
Sabrina’s Spotty Attendance Record
While Sabrina was dividing her time between the two schools, she gradually started missing more of her mortal schooling. Sometimes she was pulled out early to attend a coven meeting, and she eventually took an extended leave of absence in order to focus more on her witch schooling.
While Ms. Wardwell, who was also Lillith for a time, had a major influence on Sabrina and her wellbeing, the school was never shown having issues with her unexplained absences or leaving early, nor was she considered truant for missing so much school.
General Enrollment And Visitation
Throughout the show, people are able to just come to Baxter High either to visit faculty or to attend alongside their alleged cousin. The two most notable cases are that Prudence attended Baxter High for a day while she was preparing for her role as queen for the Feast of Feasts. Sabrina claimed her to be her cousin and she was allowed to immediately attend. There should have been notice given to the school and extensive verification performed before allowing Prudence to attend.
The second of which is when Ms. Wardwell’s fiance, Adam, was able to stop by unannounced to surprise Ms. Wardwell. This is unprofessional of Adam, and would also reflect upon Ms. Wardwell negatively.
Promotions And Paperwork
Promotions and the subsequent paperwork seem to process quickly at Baxter High. After Principal Hawthorne was killed, Ms. Wardwell was immediately instated as the succeeding principal. She was never referred to as the interim principal, something that even Father Blackwood was called when he was filling in after the death of the Anti-Pope.
Since even witches respect the process and whatever their equivalent to paperwork would be, it does not make sense that Ms. Wardwell would ascend to the role of principal, especially when other administration would likely be given the role before she was given it.
Next: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Every Magical Character Ranked By Powerfulness
