Well-regarded New Jersey principal Joe Clark has died at the age of 82 from an undisclosed illness, according to his family. Clark gained national recognition in the 1980s when he used his baseball bat and bullhorn to radically transform Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey. The school had long suffered from drug addiction, violence and terrible test scores. Within a decade, Clark turned the school into a powerhouse using methods that were, at times, controversial. "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," his family said in a statement. "Roaming the hallways with a bullhorn and a baseball bat, Clark's unorthodox methods won him both admirers and critics nationwide. Steadfast in his approach, Clark explained that the bat was not a weapon but a symbol of choice: a student could either strike out or hit a home run,"...
