Joe Louis Clark
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Joe Louis Clark (born May 7, 1938, in Rochell, Georgia) is the former high school principal of one of New Jersey's toughest inner city schools. He is also the subject of the 1989 film Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman. He is the father of the Olympic track athletes Joetta Clark-Diggs and Hazel Clark, and the father-in-law of Olympic track athlete Jearl Miles-Clark.
Clark was educated at William Paterson, Seton Hall, Columbia and Rutgers universities. He is a former U.S. Army drill sergeant. He took over as principal at Eastside High School in Paterson, in 1983 with a vow to change school operations and student behaviors. He made good on his promise and two years later was named one of the nation’s "10 Principals of Leadership", the same year the state’s governor, Thomas Kean, declared this formerly raucous institution a model school. Then President Ronald Reagan praised Clark as a tough educator for tough times, saying "Sometimes you need Mister Chips, and sometimes you need Dirty Harry". Time magazine featured the baseball bat-wielding Clark on its cover and said "If tough love is your thing, you can find a lot to love about Joe Clark".
However, Clark's actions have not been without criticism. Teachers at the school claimed he was autocratic and tyrannical. Many left rather than continue to work with him. One teacher claimed Clark had her escorted off campus by police after she disagreed with him on a minor subject. It was also pointed out that while discipline problems lessened under Clark, the students' test scores did not rise as highly as the movie would suggest. Many have also accused the controversial educator of being an anti-Semite. Clark claimed in one interview that Jews had bought the whole state of Florida. During a nationally-televised talk show, he called another guest a "Hymie".
In addition to becoming a motivational speaker, he has also served as director of the Essex County Detention, a juvenile detention center in Newark, New Jersey, and is the author of Laying Down the Law. Clark has also generated controversy as director of the detention center for his harsh methods in dealing with the young offenders.
