Remembering the complicated legacy of principal Joe Clark: Urban hero, tyrannical ‘despot’ and dad – NJ.com

Years after he left Paterson’s Eastside High School and gained fame as the subject of the 1989 film “Lean on Me,” former principal Joe Clark found himself with a new job — head of a juvenile detention center in Newark.

He said he was attracted to the post because things were so dire at the troubled center, which was under federal scrutiny for being filthy and overcrowded. Places like that, where things had hit rock bottom, gave him the most freedom to try his tough-love method of cleaning things up, he said.

’’The titles change but the procedures are the same,” he told The Star-Ledger in 2000 as walked the halls of the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center dressed in a sharp suit and chunky jewelry. “I could lead anything: a school, a jail, a city, a state, a nation . . . or the world.”

Clark did clean up the detention center, firing old staff, imposing discipline, demanding respect and greeting the detainees by name. But, by the time he left a few years later, he’d also drawn fire for forcing teenagers to get military-style haircuts and allegedly chaining some to their beds. He’d become the subject of lawsuits and a searing report by the state’s Juvenile Justice Commission.

It was a complicated legacy, similar to the one he left behind at Paterson’s Eastside High School when the famous principal — known for carrying a bat and bullhorn and chaining the doors to keep out “thugs” — was given a buyout in 1990 by the weary school board after one too many controversies.

Clark died Tuesday at age 82 after a long illness, surrounded by his family in Florida, where he had retired after leaving New Jersey. The former principal’s death made headlines around the world and inspired a flood of social media posts from former students, fellow educators and fans.

Many said they found Clark’s passion for his students an inspiration, while acknowledging the methods that landed “Crazy Joe” on the cover of Time Magazine and on “60 Minutes” were controversial then and probably wouldn’t fly in any school these days.

“Joe Clark’s educational methods have been called unconventional, unorthodox and uncompromising; but his commitment to his students and legacy at Eastside cannot be challenged. Joe Clark dared students to dream as they never had before,” said Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-Passaic, a Paterson native.

Among educators, Clark’s tenure in Eastside raised uncomfortable questions about race in the 1980s. His critics said Clark’s authoritarian style would likely not have been tolerated if his students were not Black and low-income. Expelling the worst students and suspending hundreds of others also led to criticism that he may have been improving the high school by pushing its problems onto Paterson’s streets.

But no one could deny Clark was an inspiration to many fellow educators, especially those frustrated by the bureaucracy that kept many failing schools from reforming.

“As a teacher and coach at Eastside High School from 1989 to 1998, I saw firsthand the impact of Joe Clark’s legacy on students in Paterson. He challenged every student to reach their fullest potential and to strive for a future they could be proud of. His unwavering belief in them made them believe in themselves,” said Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly, D-Passaic, who coached football at the school.

“He accomplished what every educator sets out to do,” Wimberly added, “make a difference in the lives of the young people who’ll shape our future.”

Media stories painting Clark as an urban folk hero, coupled with Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of him in “Lean on Me,” inspired some to go into teaching.

“As a child, I remember ‘Lean on Me’ making a huge impact on me. This movie impacted me so much that I wanted to become a principal. I looked up to Mr. Joe Clark as a role model and admired his unorthodox methods in caring for children and his community. RIP to an icon,” a principal of a South Carolina middle school tweeted Wednesday.

Another assistant principal tweeted, “I’ve taken many things from Joe Clark and applied them to my own leadership style. Unfortunately, the bat was a no go. I kid, I kid.”

Freeman, who won an NAACP image award for his portrayal of Clark in “Lean on Me,” also praised commitment to education.

“Joe was a father figure to school kids and was among the best of the best in encouraging their education. He was an inspiration to many, including myself,” Freeman said on Facebook.

In the 1980s, Clark repeatedly clashed with the school board and some lawmakers in Paterson who thought his rogue style crossed the line. But he was also embraced by Republicans, including President Ronald Reagan, who offered him a White House consulting job.

“Liberals! Liberals don’t like me. I tell them, ‘Go to hell!’” Clark told a UPI reporter in 1988 while battling the Paterson school board over allegedly expelling dozens of students without due process because he said many were “leeches” over 18 and nowhere close to graduating.

The then-head of the Paterson teachers union, which filed dozens of grievances against Clark during his tenure, called him a “despot” for allegedly terrorizing and ridiculing teachers who didn’t meet his standards. The teachers union president offered to buy Clark a plane ticket to Washington, D.C., if he joined the Reagan administration.

In the end, Clark didn’t take the White House up on its job offer. He said he loved the kids at Eastside too much to leave New Jersey and his $60,000-a-year job as principal.

“Sometimes you need a ‘Mr. Chips.’ Sometimes you need a ‘Dirty Harry,’” then-Education Secretary William Bennett said at the time, declaring himself one of Clark’s fans.

Born in Rochelle, Georgia, in 1938, Joe Louis Clark moved to Newark with his family when he was 6. He graduated from Newark’s Central High School, then earned a bachelor’s degree from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University) and a master’s degree from Seton Hall University.

He spent time as a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and drill Instructor, taking those skills into his teaching career.

Clark started in Paterson as a grade school teacher and served as the director of camps and playgrounds in Essex County. He was principal of PS 6 Grammar School before taking over Eastside High School. He said he got the principal job at Eastside because no one else wanted to run a school where teachers were afraid to walk the halls, students came to school armed and drug dealers worked out of the stairwells.

After leaving Eastside and making a living as an inspirational speaker for a few year, he spent six years as the director of the juvenile detention center in Newark before heart problems helped prompt his retirement. He also wrote “Laying Down the Law: Joe Clark’s Strategy for Saving Our Schools” and toured the country giving lectures.

He and his wife, Gloria, also raised a family in South Orange. He became the patriarch of a famed track and field family.

His daughter Joetta Clark Diggs was a track and field champion and Olympian, inspirational speaker and former commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Daughter Hazel Clark is also a three-time Olympian in track and now director of sports business development for the Bermuda Tourism Authority.

Clark’s son, Joe Clark Jr., coached his sisters and is now director of track and field and cross country at Stanford University.

Clark was predeceased by his wife, Gloria. He is also survived by his three grandchildren, Talitha, Jorell and Hazel.

“I am so grateful for your never ending love,” his daughter, Hazel Clark, tweeted Tuesday with family photos of her father embracing his children and posing in cowboy hats.

In the end, it’s unclear how much Clark would have cared about his mixed legacy as an educator or the flood of social media posts and comments about his death.

“If you like me, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I appreciate it,” he said in a 1994 speech. “And if you don’t, have a good damn day.”

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.