The box-office success of “Lean on Me,” the film based on Joe Clark’s career as principal of Eastside High School, has brought a measure of entertainment-industry hoopla to Paterson, N.J. For members of the Paterson school board, though, the excitement has been a bit too much.
The board reprimanded Mr. Clark and suspended him with pay for five days last week for his role in organizing a school assembly that included a performance by nearly nude male dancers. The assembly was called to promote the new film.
According to press reports, Mr. Clark threatened to quit in response to the board’s action.
But Robert Rosenberg, an attorney for the school board, said last week that Mr. Clark had “accepted” his suspension and would return to school this week. Mr. Clark was unavailable for comment.
Mark D. Musick, currently vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board, has been selected to become its president at the end of June.
Mr. Musick will replace Winfred L. Godwin, who is retiring after 28 years as head of the 15-state organization.
As director of state services and information, Mr. Musick wrote and edited numerous reports on such topics as education funding, student assessment, career ladders, and remedial education. He also directed the organization’s pilot project with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which served as a model for naep’s forthcoming state-by-state assessment program.
A. Dean Speicher, superintendent of the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation in Osceola, Ind., was scheduled to be installed as president of the American Association of School Administrators at ceremonies held in South Bend, Ind., late last week.
Mr. Speicher, elected to the one-year post by members of the national organization, held the office of president-elect last year, and previously served a three-year term on the executive committee.
He has been superintendent of the Penn-Harris-Madison district since 1971.
Mr. Speicher chose “Leadership With Vision” as the theme of his presidency.
New York City schools may someday move to a year-round schedule in order to reduce overcrowding, Chancellor Richard R. Green has suggested.
Mr. Green said last week that he had authorized his staff to study the possibility of beginning a pilot year-round program in a city school next fall.
Crowding is a severe problem in the school system, the nation’s largest. One Manhattan district is 4,500 seats short, for example. Many students have been forced to attend schools in other parts of the city because of a lack of space.
School officials noted a number of obstacles to changing the basic school calendar, though, including potential resistance from teachers and the problem of keeping classrooms cool in summer.
