There were so many people that District Justice Paul N. Leo moved the preliminary hearing from his courtroom in Borough Hall to the commissioners' meeting room.
Still, all of the seats were filled by 9 a.m., and some onlookers had to stand around the back of the room.
The supporters filed out disappointed and downcast five hours later when Leo ordered Clark held for trial on most of the charges.
Leo told Clark to appear in Common Pleas Court in Norristown on Oct. 17 for arraignment. Clark remains free on the $100,000 cash bail he posted after his arrest in early July.
"There's no dispute he's done some wonderful things for the community," said Assistant Montgomery County District Attorney Todd Stephens, who is prosecuting the case. "The problem is, the way he touched these children is inappropriate."
A 14-year-old boy who testified yesterday said that, when he was 10, Clark pulled down his pants, spanked him and told him he loved him.
A 16-year-old boy testified that Clark spanked him when he was 11. "I know I didn't tell my parents because, frankly, I was ashamed of it," he said.
Upper Moreland Detective John D. McCue Jr. filed charges against Clark on July 3. A court document recounted the claims of about eight present or former Cinekyd students who said they had been spanked.
Some students claimed Clark had taken them to a garage across the road from the school and spanked them with their pants down.
The accusations rocked the Willow Grove community, where Cinekyd operates in a small industrial park at 2805 Terwood Rd. One supporter said yesterday that parents of students who attend Cinekyd met at the school soon after the charges were lodged, and that there was general agreement that Clark's attempts at discipline were being misconstrued.
