Naya already said that she had some things having to do with her album so that's why she's not appearing in a few episodes. But she's coming back to set next week for whatever episode they are on.
So they jump ahead to a new school-year after this episode, so I'm guessing we really aren't going back to Lima, or at least if we do we're gonna have a new class next season, everyone will be either seniors or graduated. Shame. I liked the newbies.
Are they just staying with the all NY format until the end of season? I think I read somewhere they were gonna maybe go back to Lima for a few episodes at the end of this season.