MovieChat Forums > Lean on Me (1989) Discussion > How Could Joe Clark Expel 300 Students?

How Could Joe Clark Expel 300 Students?


Even though it was the 1980s, they had school attendance laws back then. You had to be in school until you were 17. How could Joe Clark put the students who were 17 or under out of Eastside High legally? They had to be educated. Sams had to be about 14 or 15. He was to young to be put out of high school! That is probably why Joe Clark had no choice but to let him back in.

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Schools have the option of expulsion for a reason. Most of the kids he threw out had already been seniors for 3 years or more, well over 17.

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Kids kicked out should get steralized as well.

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Clark actually did expel 300 students when he took over. Yes, most of them were at least 17 if not older.

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Nah, why waste the precious medical resources? Arm the security guards, line 'em up against the wall, and gun them all down.




I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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well, you didn't learn how to spell sterilized, assuming you even stayed the 4 years of high school.

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Obviously this school was entirely out of control, and the school administrator didn't care one bit. Mr. Clark did the right thing and expelled everyone who was not there to learn, regardless of age. This was a educational facility and not a community center.

You *beep* with the wrong Marine! - Col. Jessep, A Few Good Men.

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Mr. Clark did the right thing and expelled everyone who was not there to learn, regardless of age


Actually, age does matter here. There are laws against this. You can't just kick out anybody you want to. And even the ones who were old enough, there is a process. You have to put a case together and it has to go in front of the board. A principal does not have the power to expel anybody. He can suspend, but an expulsion hearing conducted by the board and the Superintendent, where the parents have the right to an attorney, is the only way to get a kid expelled.

Boy, you got me confused with a man who repeats himself- Omar Little

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A principal does not have the power to expel anybody.



And yet!

Clark actually did expel 300 students when he took over. Yes, most of them were at least 17 if not older.

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Which is why what he did was illegal. There is a process and if any parent sued, they'd have a valid case.

Boy, you got me confused with a man who repeats himself- Omar Little

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I think that was the thing. These were lost causes and it wasn't worth it to keep them in school. It was like taking out trash.

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You're gross.

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Nah you're the one that's gross if you'd seriously let a bunch of no good drug dealers stay in your school.

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This is one scene that i had an issue with. I love what he did and how he did it, but based on the movie (the opening scene is a great indication) there would have been much more chaos then what happened on that stage.

We already know that the one drug dealer carried a knife on him. I think there would have been much more violence.

Just my two cents :)

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I think he felt, and he sort of stated this in the meeting with the parents, that these students that he expelled, were the ones that could not be saved. They were just drug addicts and j.d.'s and had been there up to five years and did zip. Now, when Samms came to him and said that he made a mistake with him, when he looked at the record, he saw that Samms was taking crack and cutting classes so there was no mistake. Samms lied about it not being him (we see Baines giving him drugs at the beginning) and Clark decided to test him to see if he really wanted to get back into school by taking him up to the rooftop and daring him to jump because taking the crack is the same thing as jumping-you are killing yourself. When Samms didn't jump, Clark decided to give him a break and let him back in. There was all that other *beep* about Samms not telling his daddy he was thrown out because his dad doesn't live with him and the reason he needs to get back in is that he can't tell mommy he got thrown out.

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Before they were kicked out he said the kids on stage had been in school for at least 5 years. That's why they were separated from the rest of the kids in the auditorium. So they had to be 18-19 minimum, I would think.

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But as the OP stated, Sams was about 14, 15 at the most, and the little hot Hispanic girl, the one Kid Ray was trying to encourage his buddy to hit on, looked about the same age as Sams.

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Because anything can happen in a movie?

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Although Clark meant well, he did lots of things that were against the law (hence why he got arrested) so expelling those kids didn't surprise me one bit.

-it's also a little strange that he carried around a bat and refer to himself as "bat man". In today's world people would get suspicious by that.

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In a tough area where East Side is, carrying a bat was a necessity.

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Good movie, but it wasn't 100% historically accurate. Many scenes were added for dramatic effect, every movie based on a true story does it.

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