$100,000 Awarded Ex-Student Insurer Reveals ‘93 Settlement In Sex Case Involving Teacher

A former student who claimed she had sexual relations with the former Lewis and Clark High School choir director has received $100,000 from Spokane School District 81’s insurance company.

The amount paid in December 1993 to Laurie Brockmann and her husband, Michael Cunningham, was revealed earlier this week by the insurer, CIGNA Cos.

Attorneys for The Spokesman-Review had fought for two years to have the dollar amount released. Attorneys for the former teacher, Shawn Wright, and the insurance company had wanted the figure kept secret.

Brockmann notified the district in September 1993 that she and Wright had had a sexual relationship while she was a student. Brockmann was in Wright’s choir class from 1985 to 1987.

Wright left the Spokane district in 1987 and was hired as a choir director for the Mead School District in 1988.

Mead fired Wright in July 1994 after a nine-month investigation into charges he had had sex with one student, sexually exploited a second and served alcohol to minors - all while teaching in the Spokane district.

The state superintendent of public instruction revoked Wright’s teaching certificate earlier this year.

Mary Schultz, Wright’s attorney, said her client is appealing the firing and the revocation.

She added that Wright fought the insurance company’s decision to settle with Brockmann.

“To this day, he is adamant that he did not receive fair resolution to this issue,” Schultz said.

, DataTimes