By Karen Gutierrez
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - On a whim, Superintendent Jack Moreland this spring paid $420 to send 20 female staff members to a Chippendales show at which buff men stripped to their thongs.

He thought it would be a morale booster. The women - many of them secretaries in their 40s and 50s - said it was. But a disgruntled citizen complained to state officials, accusing Moreland of spending school-district money on a strip show.

He didn't. He spent his own money. Nevertheless, the state's Office of Education Accountability is investigating, Moreland said. To prove his innocence, he faxed his personal credit-card receipt to the investigators, he said.

"I did it in fun, and they went in fun, and I don't think there was any harm done."

Not unless you count an outbreak of giggles.

"We just laughed and laughed and laughed," said Jena Meehan, the superintendent's secretary, who was among the oglers from the central office. "It was a spectacle, to be sure, and to have all of us there was even funnier."

The Chippendales are internationally known as the epitome of beefcake. But there's no nudity. As burlesque goes, the Chippendales are the Disney version.

The troupe appeared in April at the Madison Theater in Covington. Moreland happened to be driving by the theater, saw the advertisement and thought it would be nice to send his female staff.

"We are still laughing about it," Meehan said.

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com