A lifetime ago I had a business relationship with the Board of Education in Paterson N.J. During this time I had many conversations while providing a service to some machinery in all of the schools. I was speaking to a man named Joe Clark. We became friends. I'm not certain what his job was when I met him but I sure did know it a few years later.
The summer that they filmed the movie in East Side H.S. they spray painted the walls, threw garbage on the floor, and exaggerated how dirty the place really was. I guess that was just Hollywood putting their flavor on the site.
This man singlehandedly took on many members of the Board of Education in Paterson who seemed to work against him as he tried to prevent drug dealers from walking the hallways, going into classrooms, and having free run of the school he was put in charge of. He chained the doors and locked the doors with chains and locks you couldn't buy at Rickels. He took the money from his own pocket. He cared about the kids and teachers in the school and wanted to provide a safe environment for them to be able to learn. Unfortunately, the kids came from the hood. Many looked to Mr. Clark as a father figure. He did his best to speak in the auditorium to the kids about avoiding the temptation that was all around them. He spoke of teenage pregnancy and the down side of what comes with it.
He was making great progress and was making some of the higher-ups look bad. He had the recipe. He was snuffed out before he could complete his mission. He changed many people's lives for the better. He cried like a little girl the day that someone was raped in the stair case in the school. He didn't give up, he doubled up his efforts. He was the kind of leader that we need now who puts the children before everything else. What a great guy he was. I just looked at Wikipedia and see that he died a few years ago here in Florida.
I wonder what he would have done under the present conditions? I'll bet talking about everything would be low on his list and action would be on top.
I have no words for what's going on in these schools now. NOTHING I say will help or be constructive. We need a miracle to turn things around. We need someone like Joe Clark to come to the rescue. Many people thought he was nuts, he was a great man who motivated the un-motivateable and broke the chain of failure and abuse in many families in Paterson N.J. Hey Joe, send your replacement quickly, we're in deep trouble.
He was really something else with that megaphone. What a memory all this is for me. I think I'll go cry like a little girl for a little bit.
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