Posted on 06/17/2004 7:21:12 AM PDT by esryle
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- When Covington schools Superintendent Jack Moreland saw an advertisement for a Chippendales show, he thought it would be a good morale booster for his female employees. So he shelled out $420 to send 20 female staff members to a Chippendales show to see buff men strip off most of their clothing.
It worked, but it also raised the ire of at least one person, who wrote an anonymous letter to the state Office of Education Accountability accusing Moreland of using school-district funds to pay for the strip show.
Moreland said he spent $420 of his own money for the show - and faxed his personal credit-card receipt to investigators.
"I did it in fun, and they went in fun, and I don't think there was any harm done," he said.
Bryan Jones, a lawyer for the Office of Education Accountability, said he couldn't confirm or deny whether his office looked into a complaint.
The women who attended the show said they enjoyed it.
"We just laughed and laughed and laughed," said Jena Meehan, the superintendent's secretary. "It was a spectacle, to be sure, and to have all of us there was even funnier."
Chippendales is a high-class male revue that became popular in the 1980s. Well-muscled young men wearing bow-ties and bare chests strip to scanty undies for female audiences.
Moreland is the former president of the Council for Better Education, the superintendents group that brought the historic lawsuit that resulted in the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 and its revolutionary reform of Kentucky's public schools.
"You wouldn't expect an 'unbiased' and 'objective' news source to call the Chippendales 'high class' or use the phrase 'scanty undies.' "
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Well...yeah, I guess I wouldn't expect a unbiased and objective news source to do that...But we are talking about AP....after all.
FRegards,
"If the kids aren't going to be traumatized, then go for it!"
That's a pretty high level of expectation for the character of the teachers of our children.
Geez, Kentucky must be boring as hell if people there consider Cincinnati to be sinful.
Perhaps they do know the difference, and are mature enough to know that going to Chippendale's for a night and having a good time doesn't have one thing to do with how they act in the classroom the next day, except for possibly having them be in a better mood. Wouldn't want teachers in a good mood, now would we??
While they may not have gone back to class and made a full report, thereby directly harming the kids, it reflects on their value system and whether they are competent to be good role models for the kids.
so you would have those who decide to become teachers live like nuns at all times? What does it matter what their personal value system FOR THEMSELVES is so long as it DOESN'T MAKE IT INTO THE CLASSROOM. WIthout that stupid letter that person wrote, this would have been a total non-event.
We should not have to pull our kids out of public schools in order to insist on having teachers with some level of decency.
you're right - but I don't think going to Chippendale's shows any lack in their level of decency in their professional or personal life. That you would insist on such control over the life of a teacher shows a lot of disrespect for their ability to separate personal and professional.
All right, all right, all right! I didn't want to admit it, but you had me at "banana hammock."
How is it some people see you as Taliban?
I know there is a commandment not to covet, but I don't know of one not to look and enjoy the view. Besides, it was Eve's rebellion - we ladies have always enjoyed a good time. :)
This Superintendent is not morally fit to be leading the school systems and the teacher's that accepted his invitation are not morally fit to be teaching our young.
by your standards, I doubt many people are.
How are the children hurt? You can't just throw out this statement without some sort of backing.
Oh My!
I remember that skit.... a wonderful combination of LMAO and ::THUD::
now THAT is an entirely different sort of night out...if the superintendent paid for that, we'd have a whole different issue. :)
Ever heard the old saying "Leopards don't change their stripes". If they aren't moral outside of the classroom, they aren't likely to be moral inside the classroom. Besides, they are a role model and what they do outside of the classroom, students often hear about.
For example, students learned about the teachers going to chippendales. These teachers were stupid enough to think it wouldn't matter. But now all their students know how depraved they are.
Fine role models they made. How many more blunders like this should we put up with before we fire them for poor judgement? And this blunder was instigated by the Superintendent.
Actually the whole sex industry are legal sexual predators.
Speaking of banana hammocks:
http://www.internationalmale.com/product.asp?product=AB48zz&dept%5Fid=10590&An=101&A=&Au=RollupKey
and you are the ultimate arbiter of what is and is not moral? What you say is right and what anyone else says on this board is wrong if they disagree? there seem to be an awful lot of people here who don't think there was anything immoral about what they did, but you'd punish them because they have offended YOUR sense of morals. You can only control yourself, and to a limited extent, your children. You can't control other people, EVEN teachers.
For example, students learned about the teachers going to chippendales. These teachers were stupid enough to think it wouldn't matter. But now all their students know how depraved they are.
i'm sure that's what the students thought. they probably thought it was funny. students aren't as easily shocked as you seem to think they are.
Fine role models they made. How many more blunders like this should we put up with before we fire them for poor judgement? And this blunder was instigated by the Superintendent.
and i don't think it was a blunder at all. just because you say it is, doesn't make it so.
I have a suspicion that my work filter won't approve of that, there. Bumping for home use!
Oh puh-leeze! Unless your goal is to eliminate schools altogether (not a bad goal, by the way), you'd better lighten up. Attending a Chippendale's show is silly IMO, but not depraved for goodness sake.
Just curious, as I am a soon to be teacher, may I (in my own time) enter the Hustler store in Cincinnati and make a purchase for my husband and myself?
YOU think this was immoral behavior. Most people don't. So why do we have to live by your rules?
Well I agree the view was created to be enjoyed. But it's the context, Chippendales puts the view into a sexual context that is not appropriate in the (privately owned) public forum.
Eve did start it, but Adam followed.
"by your standards, I doubt many people are."
Well there is nothing wrong with having high standards even if you don't always obtain them yourself. I think there are a lot of people who are better qualified than these women to teach kids, and I do want the best, most morally upright teachers that are available.
"and their employment is probably governed by a collective bargaining agreement that lays out under what circumstances they can be fired."
You are probably right. I was thinking of actors who used to sign morality clauses demanded by the studios. They were unionized as well which is probably why they needed a morality clause.
I do know that if you fire an employee for moral reasons you will probably lose at an unemployment compensation hearing, which will make your premiums go up.
I fired a guy once because he just had a bad attitude and no one liked working with him. At least I thought I had. Turns out I laid him off. I guess a bad attitude isn't sufficient reason to fire someone. He got unemployment compensation.
I can only imagine the howls of protest I would have gotten if I had fired him for going to a strip club on his own time.
I think Most people do agree this was immoral behavior. Otherwise it wouldn't be an issue would it? If you are going to teach our kids, you have to live by our rules.
Why should we employee you, if you aren't willing to set a good example for our kids?
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