But following a meeting with district officials last week, Wright emerged a happy man.
“After a year of one piece of really bad (cancer) news after another, it’s great to have this thing go the right way,” he said.
Wright teaches in a virtual classroom that’s part of the Bethel Online Academy. After first being told he had to go to Spanaway four days a week, he now will be allowed to spend most of his time working from home and avoiding his lengthy and exhausting commute.
The schedule will allow him more time to recover from chemotherapy and other treatments for colon cancer, while still keeping in touch with students electronically.
Wright essentially has been granted the same flexibility that online academies offer students, who often don’t thrive in a traditional school setting because of family issues, jobs or other schedule conflicts.
Doctors have said Wright’s cancer could kill him in six months. But he wants to finish out the school year if he can.
“For as long as I’ve been a teacher, it’s always been about my students, the kids,” said the 55-year-old Wright, who returned to school to pursue a teaching career in his mid-30s after spending years as a rock musician. “Now I’ll be able to teach for a little longer, and I’m thankful for that.”
Wright’s wife, Cynthia Morrison, was likewise pleased.
“This will make such a difference in Wynn’s ability to teach for as long as possible,” she said.
Like a growing number of school districts, Bethel offers an online academy that permits students in grades seven through 12 the opportunity to take courses by computer. Wright has worked for Bethel Online Academy since 2005.
He argued that since he primarily interacts with his online students through e-mail, phone calls and other electronic means, there is no reason for him to make the daily commute. It can take from 45 to 90 minutes each way, depending on traffic, he says.
He teaches 22 students directly and grades assignments for an estimated 200 online students. He also helped write curriculum for the academy.
Wright had made a similar scheduling request last year when he asked to work four hours a day, four days a week. He said district officials initially balked but finally granted him the request last spring.
When school began this year, he asked for another reduction in office hours – with a recommendation from his doctor.
“Driving four days a week was starting to get to me,” Wright said. “Even my fellow employees realized it.”
The district at first turned him down.
In a letter dated Jan. 22, Bethel director of human resources Todd Mitchell told Wright that his request to work four hours a week at school and the rest of the week at home violated school district policy that requires online teachers to have direct student contact at least weekly.
District officials reconsidered following inquiries from his union – the Bethel Education Association – and from The News Tribune.
Morrison said the human resources director spent some time reviewing her husband’s job description and asking questions about the nature of his work.
During his four weekly hours at school, Wright said he’s able to see any students who require a meeting. He said he can also go to staff meetings or attend to other business.
Wright’s cancer trials started just over a year ago, when he was diagnosed with colon cancer during a routine colonoscopy on Jan. 16. His doctor sent him straight from the colonoscopy to the hospital.
“You don’t even know how to react,” said Morrison. “He’s fine one day, and the next day they’re telling you he’s incurable.”
Surgeons at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia removed two feet of his colon. He currently undergoes chemotherapy for two weeks at a time, then takes a week off.
Doctors have told Wright that his cancer has spread to his liver and other organs. His prognosis is grim.
But after Wright got good news from the school district on Thursday, he and his wife went out to dinner to celebrate.
“He looked like he had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders,” Morrison said.
Bethel Education Association president Tom Cruver praised the district’s efforts on Wright’s behalf.
“It takes time sometimes to find a way to make things work,” he said. “But they did the right thing for this person and the right thing for the kids.”
Asked why he fought to keep teaching on his terms, rather than retire with a disability, Wright spoke of his desire to stay productive as long as possible.
“I still have a lot to offer,” he said. “I could say I’m done and sit here (at home) and watch ‘People’s Court’ every day. But there’s still stuff I want to accomplish.”
Debbie Cafazzo: 253-597-8635
