| Published on September 28, 1996, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) PHOTO CAPTION Under fire again for his discipline methods, former Paterson principal Joe Clark put 12 teens in handcuffs and leg irons at the Essex County Youth Detention Center, which he directs. ``I made them accountable for their diabolical behavior,'' Clark said yesterday. As a principal, he was tough on disruptive students. Published on June 9, 1990, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) PRINCIPAL JOE CLARK SPARS WITH COUNCIL OVER WAGES Joe Clark, the controversial principal who ruled Eastside High School with a baseball bat and a bullhorn is involved in another war of words, this time with the city council over his retirement buyout.Council members, who voted earlier this week to sue the city's school board over the $170,000 buyout, are "a bunch of spineless moth-bitten serpents," Clark told the Record of Hackensack. Published on February 8, 1990, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) EX-PRINCIPAL JOE CLARK ATTACKS PUBLIC EDUCATION Former high school principal Joe Clark, whose bat-wielding cleanup of a New Jersey high school became the subject of a motion picture, says he no longer wants to be a part of public education.Public education is "institutionalized child abuse," Clark told 200 Lowndes County High School students at Valdosta State College Tuesday."American education is in the absolute doldrums of stagnation. Published on July 9, 1989, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) JOE CLARK TO GIVE UP BAT AND BULLHORN Principal Joe Clark said Saturday that his steel-fisted reign over the inner-city high school he ran for eight years apparently is over, thanks to a City Council of "transvestites" and "vermin."Clark, who was released Saturday from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center following heart surgery six weeks ago, said his biggest accomplishment was showing that "black and Hispanic students in the inner city can behave.""Educating them is another story," he said. Published on May 29, 1989, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) JOE CLARK SATISFACTORY AFTER HEART SURGERY Hard-nosed high school principal Joe Clark, celebrated for his tough discipline and the subject of the recent movie "Lean on Me," underwent successful open-heart surgery Sunday to replace an infected aortic valve.Clark, 52, known for his bombastic rhetoric and for wielding a baseball bat while patrolling the corridors of Eastside High in Paterson, was reported in satisfactory condition after about four hours of surgery at Newark Beth Israel Hospital. Published on March 15, 1989, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) CITY COUNCIL SEEKS TO FIRE JOE CLARK The City Council approved a resolution Tuesday night seeking the firing of school Principal Joe Clark, who gained national prominence and praise from the Reagan administration by roaming the school halls with a baseball bat and bullhorn.The resolution, approved 5-4, asks the Paterson Board of Education to replace Clark, principal of Eastside High School, said city clerk Sylvia Ulmer.The Board of Education will not follow the recommendation. Published on March 14, 1989, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) NEWS BRIEFS 400 students walk out, back ClarkPATERSON - About 400 Eastside High School students walked out of their building Monday and marched downtown to the Board of Education office in an apparent show of support for suspended school principal Joe Clark.The students left the school building around 9:30 a.m. and eventually took control of a meeting room in the Board of Education building, said Paterson Mayor Frank Graves. The students were escorted back to school by police about and hour later. Published on November 7, 1988, Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) BATTER UP JOE CLARK TAKES LAW AND ORDER DRIVE FROM SCHOOL TO POLLS Principal Joe Clark patrols the halls of Eastside High School with the confidence of a military man inspecting territory won from a vanquished enemy.And in a real sense, that's what the former Army Reserve sergeant is doing. He took over the besieged high school in 1981, when drug pushers and muggers terrorized students and faculty alike.No more. The flamboyant Clark took to the halls with his trademark 36-inch baseball bat. He bullied out those he derisively calls "punks, pathological deviants. Published on January 15, 1988, Washington Post PRINCIPAL GETS A DELAY The city school board postponed disciplinary action against principal Joe Clark, saying it violated the state's open-meetings law in its handling of the case.The violation voids a decision last week to begin disciplinary proceedings against Clark, who has won the praise of President Reagan for his tough approach to running the high school. Clark is accused of insubordination and unbecoming conduct. Published on January 12, 1988, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) CLARK CHARGES ARE DROPPED BUT PRINCIPAL CONSIDERS WASHINGTON MOVE A prosecutor dropped contempt charges yesterday against Eastside High School principal Joe Clark after the tough-talking administrator agreed he should not chain school doors shut. Clark also said he would probably be leaving soon to take a job in the Reagan administration. Clark, who once kept the school's doors chained to keep drug dealers out, was charged with violating a court order that school exits be kept open for safety reasons during school hours. Published on October 29, 1986, The Record (New Jersey)Published on January 21, 1988, Washington Post PRINCIPAL CLARK DROPS DUKES, GETS BIG GIFT FOR SCHOOL Principal Joe Clark agreed today to stop his verbal assaults on the school board as he accepted a $1 million gift to his school that will be withdrawn if board members suspend or fire him."I'm going to take the advice of the chief administrator of this city. I'm going to cease and desist fighting with the board," Clark said at a student assembly at Eastside High, the school he runs with the assistance of a bullhorn and baseball bat. Published on January 15, 1988, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) PATERSON BOARD ADMITS ERROR IN SPAT WITH PRINCIPAL The school board said yesterday that it erred in acting to discipline bullhorn-toting principal Joe Clark but that it would start from scratch todraw up insubordination charges against him. Vickie McDonald, an attorney for Clark, filed suit in Superior Court to stop the board from punishing the Eastside High School principal for kicking 60 students out of school without consulting with the board. Published on June 25, 1988, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) HOLLYWOOD TRANSFORMS PATERSON EASTSIDE HIGH PRINCIPAL JOE CLARK IS BACK IN SPOTLIGHT When Hollywood rolled into the parking lot of Eastside High School two months ago along with trailers, technicians, makeup artists, actors and publicists, no one in this city was surprised. It was only a matter of time.There are not many celebrities in Paterson and major movies are rarely filmed here. But by last week, students in Eastside's main hallway bypassed cameramen without displaying any interest in the famous actor waiting for his next scene. Published on February 12, 1988, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) RUN-DMC AIDS TOUGH PRINCIPAL Run-DMC gave two 30-minute concerts at Eastside High School in Paterson, N.J., yesterday, and at a news conference gave a strong show of support for the principal, Joe Clark. He is under fire for his get-tough policy of running the school. "Our principal wasn't as strict as Joe Clark, and we needed somebody like that," said Joseph Simmons, who heads the rap group. |