Edna Krabappel performs her job as adequately as possible, doing her best to supply her students with the minimal educational and experiential stimulus legally required by the Springfield Board of Education. Despite Edna's effort to streamline the amount of work required of her, she still finds it nearly impossible to carve out enough time for a cigarette break, and is usually reduced to smoking n the back of her classroom during the showing of educational films.

Divorced and bitter, Edna is never one to refuse a possible "encounter" with the opposite sex. Her desperation has led to more than a few unlikely relationships, including one with the fictional "Woodrow," a character invented by Bart Simpson in response to a personal ad Mrs. Krabappel took out in the classifieds. Another relationship was with Principal Skinner. Please don't ask Edna about it.