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In the face of such grim conditions, Joe Clark has found himself the touchstone of a rekindled national debate about how to put things right in a city schoolhouse gone wrong. In the words of P. Michael Timpane, president of Teachers College at Columbia University: "Joe Clark brings out a lot of broad issues that may not have clear answers." While raising issues, however, Clark has also raised a forest of hackles for like a lot of people who do things their own way and damn the torpedoes, Clark has stirred up as many critics as admirers. And in the wake of his confrontation with his school board, he has found himself under a drumfire of criticism by other inner-city principals who take issue with his hardhanded style.
"If I had to go around with a baseball bat in one hand and a megaphone in the other, I'd sell insurance," blasts Boston Principal Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. (no relation to the former Speaker of the House), who has turned the once troubled Lewenberg middle school into a nationally recognized center of excellence. "Clark's use of force may rid the school of unwanted students," he notes, "but he also may be losing kids who might succeed." Others claim Clark's autocratic approach to discipline suggests that there is a quick solution to complex problems. "He seeds the myth that all we have to do is stop kids from knifing each other," snaps Deborah Meier, who won a $335,000 MacArthur Genius grant for her inspired supervision of Harlem's Central Park East schools.
In Los Angeles, McKenna is no less critical. "We want to fix the schools, but you don't do that by seeing the kids as the enemy," he rumbles. "Our role is to rescue and to be responsible," McKenna insists, adding bitterly, "If the students were not poor black children, Joe Clark would not be tolerated."
Many civil libertarians join in the criticism. Says Edward Martone, executive director of the New Jersey branch of the American Civil Liberties Union: "If every inner-city principal took the Joe Clark tack, they'd just throw one-third of their student body into the street. At best those kids are going to get minimum-wage jobs. At worst they're going to end up committing crimes and being incarcerated."
On the other hand, many people, both educators and laymen, have rushed to defend Clark. They emphasize that his tough methods are justified by the tough problems he faces. "You cannot use a democratic and collaborative style when crisis is rampant and disorder reigns," insists Kenneth Tewel, a former New York high school principal who now teaches school administration at Queens College. "You need an autocrat to bring things under control." Raymond Gerlik, principal of DeWitt C. Cregier Vocational High in Chicago, thinks Clark did what he had to do. "I sympathize with the guy," he says. "I don't have a bullhorn, but maybe he needed one." William Penn Principal Harris, who managed to purge the gangs from her school, praises Clark's character. "Here is a principal with principles. He is trying to develop strong, independent, law-abiding citizens and is trying to provide the students with a safe, secure place to learn, and for this he is going to be nailed to the wall."