Cancer: One more problem for Kline to solve – Principal approaches her disease the way she deals with students

Orcas High School - Middle School Principal Barbara Kline has another problem to solve. Only this time it’s not helping a kid get straightened out. It’s solving her own health problem.

Kline has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She will undergo surgery Friday, Jan. 25, keeping her away from school for approximately two weeks. Then, beginning in mid-March, she’ll undergo daily radiation therapy that will keep her off the job for another six weeks.

Kline approaches her upcoming ordeal no differently than if she were sitting down with a teenager and helping him or her address a problem in the classroom or at home.

“I’m a problem solver,” she says softly and matter-of-factly about the role in which she functions best.

Kline’s philosophy has never been to jump up and down and scream, or shed a lot of tears, but rather to accept that “What you have is what you have, and.... deal with it.” She also laughs about her well-renowned image of remaining calm no matter how bad the circumstances. “You have to when you deal with 300 adolescents,” she says.

With regard to her personal health, her focus on problem solving has meant getting regular mammograms, then responding immediately to the instructions of her doctors. This long-held behavioral pattern enabled Kline to have her breast cancer detected early, and a prognosis from doctors that there’s a good chance the cancer will be eliminated before it spreads to other parts of her body.

Kline is hopeful her story will prompt others to get regular checkups. The principal knows first-hand what happens to those who don’t pay attention to their health. “A few years ago a cousin of mine died,” Kline says. “She didn’t go to a doctor until it was too late.”

When Kline learned last month that she had cancer, she sat down with her husband Stephen and daughter Kathleen, and talked about her situation, the steps she intended to take, and the likelihood that she will make a full recovery. She mentioned the cousin, and Tish Knapp, the popular and well-known Orcas High School English teacher who survived a bout with breast cancer a few years back. The family found her approach comforting. “They’re OK,” she now says.

But the principal is less sure how the students feel about her cancer. After she informed the entire school community in a written letter sent to all students, teachers and parents, only a handful of kids approached her about the cancer. Kline believes that the kids care about her, but “the disease makes people uncomfortable,” she says.

During her absence, football coach and physical education teacher Dennis Dahl will serve as principal. Superintendent Barry Acker and counselor Nancy Wrightsman will assist Dahl. The school will hire a substitute to take Dahl’s physical education classes.

Kline believes the high school - middle school will function well in her absence, although she acknowledges that it will be difficult to delegate portions of a job she enjoys performing so much. Kline also feels she needs to be back at work by May, when planning for the 2002-03 academic year takes place.

— Ted Grossman is editor of islandssounder.com and The Islands’ Sounder. He can be reached at (360) 376-4500 or email.

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