George Kenney, the former principal of North Port High School in North Port, pleaded no contest in 2012 to practicing unlicensed hypnotherapy and served a year of probation, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports. Kenney also permanently lost his Florida teaching license.
Two students who had undergone hypnosis with the principal committed suicide by hanging. The third student died after driving off a roadway, according to the Herald-Tribune.
The families of the students — 16-year-old Wesley McKinley, 16-year-old Marcus Freeman and 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo — were each awarded a $200,000 settlement, Herald-Tribune reports.
The families had to sue the school district instead of Kinney because Florida law considers school employees as an extension of the school board, according to the Herald-Tribune.
Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
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