Dr. Joe L. Clark

May 8, 1937 - December 29, 2020

After graduating from Newark Central High School, Joe continued on to achieve his bachelor's degree from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University), a master's degree from Seton Hall University, and an honorary doctorate from the U.S. Sports Academy. Joe’s post-collegiate career as a U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant and Drill Instructor engrained in him a respect for order and achievement, which came to define his more than three-decade career in education.

First serving as a Paterson grade school teacher and the Director of Camps and Playgrounds in Essex County, NJ, Joe soon found his calling in administration as Principal of PS 6 Grammar School. Under Joe’s command, the once failing school was transformed into the "Miracle of Carroll Street."

Committed to the pursuit of excellence, Joe greeted the challenges presented to him following his appointment as the Principal of crime and drug-ridden Eastside High School with eager optimism. In one day, he expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers, and drug possession and lifted the expectations of those that remained, continually challenging them to perform better. Roaming the hallways with a bullhorn and a baseball bat, Joe’s unorthodox methods won him both admirers and critics nationwide. Steadfast in his approach, Joe explained that the bat was not a weapon but a symbol of choice: a student could either strike out or hit a home run.

Impressed by the expeditious changes imparted on the troubled school, President Reagan offered Joe a White House policy advisor position. Joe’s dedication to his students and community led him to decline the prestigious honor, and his larger-than-life career continued to spark conversations across the country. Joe appeared on programs including 60 Minutes and The Arsenio Hall Show and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine before the motion picture Lean on Me starring Morgan Freeman memorialized his work.

After he retired from Eastside in 1989, Joe worked for six years as the Director of Essex County Detention House, a juvenile detention center in Newark. He also wrote Laying Down the Law: Joe Clark's Strategy for Saving Our Schools, detailing his methods for turning around Eastside High School and how they can be applied to combat crime, permissiveness, and academic decline in schools nationwide. Nearly thirty years after his retirement, Joe’s captivating career offered inspiration to executive directors John Legend and LeBron James for a television series, reflecting his philosophies' generational transcendence.