The families of three high school students who died after being hypnotized by their principal will receive $200,000 each from the Sarasota County School District under a settlement agreement unanimously approved by the School Board on Tuesday.
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The payout comes four years after former North Port High School Principal George Kenney hypnotized students Wesley McKinley, 16, Marcus Freeman, 16, and Brittany Palumbo, 17.
The parents of 16-year-old Wesley McKinley, 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo and 16-year-old Marcus Freeman filed the lawsuit against the school district following the back-to-back deaths of the three students in 2011.
An investigation into Kenney’s tact of hypnosis to solve stress and concentration problems for students revealed the principal had worked on at least 75 students.
Kenney gave up his teaching license in 2013 under pressure from the Florida Department of Education and can not reapply for another, the Herald-Tribune noted. While he was charged with a pair of misdemeanors, Kenney’s no contest plea deal earned him a year of probation. “It’s something they will never get over”, Mallard said.
The parents of the three victims say they did not sue the school district for money, but to rather make sure something like this never happens again. As he said of Kenney, “He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it”. Today he operates a bed-and-breakfast in North Carolina, where he also creates stained glass, according to the Herald-Tribune. She said a sudden “strange look” had come over his face.
The grieving parents were not happy that Kenney was never apologized or admitted any wrongdoing and is now living a comfortable life during his retirement in North Carolina.
The second student to die, McKinley, was hypnotised to help with his guitar practice for his audition with Julliard School of Arts, but he was found hanging outside his home. McKinley hanged himself following a session, according to witnesses. Even if these conditions were met, Kenney’s demonstration may have still been illegal, as he held no license to practice therapeutic hypnosis.
“I would say that he was in a distant phase”. Kenney hypnotized him and taught him self-hypnosis tricks, which investigators believe Freeman was attempting to do while driving after a visit to the dentist in March 2011.
Kenney reportedly learned hypnosis at a training center in DeLand. Kenney said that hypnosis could help improve her SAT scores.
Michael and Patricia Ann Palumbo, Brittany’s parents, said they are “satisfied with the overall outcome, although this is a very hollow victory”. Kenney did not charge for the numerous sessions with Casey, Wilson said.
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After her numbers didn’t improve in 2011, Palumbo became upset.
