The school magazine is named "the crystal ship" which is a reference to one of the founders of the ACLU and a leading feminist of her day, Crystal Catherine Eastman.
Kurtwood Smith plays the principal. He is also on That 70s Show with Christopher Kennedy Masterson's (Francis) real life brother, Danny Masterson
The name of the magazine "Crystal Ship" is also the name that Jesse Pinkman gives to the RV that he and Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) cook crystal meth in on the show Breaking Bad.
The song Francis and Otto dance to is "The Sweetheart Tree" from the 1965 film "The Great Race".