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.
I remember hearing this one home-school speaker in CA. He was describing the time when he was a middle-public school principal who used to teach in a Christian school and was home schooling his kids.
He said if we think public schools are bad & Christian schools are the answer, we still don't understand the culture we swim in.
He said when he taught in a Christian school, the parents would come into his classroom, interview him, then come away saying, "Yeah, I want my kid in his classroom." But he said they didn't realize who holds the sway in any given classroom:
To paraphrase him he said, "You can take the best Christian kid in the best Christian family in the best Christian school in the best Christian community, and that kid would still rather offend the teacher than he would the peer group in his classroom. I'm not the biggest influence of your child, they are."
It's morally reprehensible. He's sending teachers to a strip show to lust after men who are not their husbands.
He is supposed to be a role model to the principles and the teachers who are supposed to be a role model to our kids. I would fire him in a heartbeat for his actions.
That's principals. Principles is what the guy lacked.
I think the person who wrote the letter is the only person in the whole story who has the kids interests at heart and had the courage and initiative to do something about it.
And that they wrote it anonymously demonstrates wisdom, not a lack of courage.
Shrug. Teaching is a job, just like any other. Assuming that the teachers do not engage in any illegal conduct while off the job or participate in innappropriate conduct on the job, their employer really should butt out of their private conduct.
Are we going to buy into the Clintonian argument that what a role model does in private is irrelevant to his character or to his leadership role?
You're buying into the Clintonian argument that "It's all about sex." In Clinton's case, he wasn't impeached because he was a sleazeball, he was impeached because he committed perjury.
Otherwise, who gives a rip if educators themselves earn extra income as strippers or prostitutes outside the classroom?
I have no problem with them being strippers on the side, since that is a legal business. I would object to them being prostitutes, if that was against the law.
Classic Farley sketch!
You know, I think that the Christian schools are filled by those who enroll their kids to get them "fixed". Many have been kicked out of public school. I have seen many Chrisitan schools start out with the right philosophy and slowly go downhill as they began to try to "fix" the whole community. If I want my kids to have a Christian education, I found out that it has to come from home.
You are hitting on the right areas. Society as a whole has given up any sense of responsibility. Yes, we home school and did it before it became the "in thing" to do. I was also involved in Boy Scouts for many years. You would be surprised at the number of parents who simply came up to me on school nights and asked: "How Much" and "Who Do I Make The Check Out To?" I refused to take it at that time. I had to make them take the time to listen to me. I ran some off, but I always started out with reminding them of how important and precious their young sons were and how they did not know me from Adam, yet were going to let their sons spend many of their growing and formative years with me, a total stranger. Most generally the boys who made Eagle were the sons of parents who took the time to listen, ask questions and make suggestions and most importantly to have the responsibility to become involved.
"Just WHAT did he do that was wrong?"
I don't think what he did was wrong, it was just odd. Talk about queer (pun seriously intended). I'd love to know how this guy thinks..."Say, I'd bet the girls would love to watch a bunch of prancing homosexuals on steroids."
He's not going to split the atom anytime soon.
A total lack of courage.
His superior should be fired. But signing your name to a letter complainging about your superior would get you fired before anything could be done to an elected official like the Superintendent of Schools.
Writing it anonymously was the wisest course of action. Had nothing to do with courage.
His superior should be fired. But signing your name to a letter complainging about your superior would get you fired before anything could be done to an elected official like the Superintendent of Schools.
Writing it anonymously was the wisest course of action. Had nothing to do with courage.
From the article:
The women who attended the show said they enjoyed it.
"We just laughed and laughed and laughed," said Jena Meehan, the superintendent's secretary.
Sexual harassment lawsuit? It doesn't sound like the women who attended the strip show were very upset about it. Besides, who was harassed?
Sending female employees to a strip club? This guy is begging for a sexual harassment lawsuit.[exile]
What did he do wrong? Even by secular, typically amoral standards of evaluation, Exile hits it on the head: he could be open to a sexual harassment suit.
I recall one time when I complained to a drug store (national chainstore) manager about a mag-rag featuring topless nudity. He took the mag & showed it to a fellow female employee, asking her if he thought those photos were offensive. I interjected that had I done what he just did in my workplace, I would be subject to a sexual harassment complaint.
I then added that if they were selling the type of content that could trigger complaints of that nature, perhaps it was more revealing about the nature of these photos than the revealing nature of the raw photos.
Likewise, in this case, what was exposed here was not simply a Chippendale's dancer; rather, this principal is exposing himself to at least a co-worker's complaint, if not a lawsuit.
He--and the educators that went--showed yet once again that they really don't care what kind of public persona they present in representing the educational community.
And for you morale-builder apologists, if that's the case, then by all means, let's establish a booster club at every campus to raise funds so that Chippendale's can be an ongoing presence for every in-service day for all female educators. I mean these poor, dispirited educators are on the frontlines and need all the morale-boosters they can get!
Post #55 was not intended for you.
"but just trying sending your employees to a faith revival....."
As long as you didn't use public funds, and didn't force them to go, I don't see how anyone could complain. There would be much less complaining than in this case at any rate.
"nothing will be done about it..."
I don't understand what you want done about it? No one did anything illegal. You can't fire people for doing things that are legal. I suppose if they had signed a morals contract agreeing not to go to strip clubs they could be fired, but I doubt this was the case.
Classic post-modernity, Modernman: Whatever is legal is moral.
From the article:
The women who attended the show said they enjoyed it.
"We just laughed and laughed and laughed," said Jena Meehan, the superintendent's secretary.
Sexual harassment lawsuit? It doesn't sound like the women who attended the strip show were very upset about it. Besides, who was harassed?
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