Kenney isn’t doing any hocus-pocus," Ann Brandenberger, a psychology teacher at the high school, told an investigator. He also worked with several of the school’s sports teams, staff members and their families. He told investigators he has worked with around 36 students - with parental permission - in the past couple years, mostly on test anxiety, athletic performance and anger management. He trained at a Florida hypnosis center and was a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists and the National Board of Hypnosis Education and Certification. He wrote four books about using hypnosis in defeating test anxiety and mastering baseball and basketball skills. Kenney was more than a hobbyist when it came to hypnosis. Zimmerman said Kenney initially misspoke when he told an administrator that he had not had a session with Palumbo, and never intended to hide it. "This was hypnosis as a relaxation and focus technique to aid in test and athletic performance." "It sort of conjures up a feeling of mind control, which of course is not what hypnosis is," Zimmerman said. In the case of student Brittany Palumbo, her mother was present during the session. Both students had sought Kenney’s help with test anxiety and had signed permission slips from their parents, Zimmerman said. Kenney declined to comment through his attorney, Mark Zimmerman, who said there is no "causal connection" between the hypnosis sessions and the suicides. Kenney is the "glue that just holds the school together," said his administrative assistant, Dianna McLaren. In March, before the two suicides, a 16-year-old football player was killed in a car crash, which followed the traffic death of a teacher killed driving to school in November. Many students and staff credit him with guiding the school through a time of grief. Some students who were hypnotized say it helped them with sports and academics. Two Facebook pages, one with more than 1,600 fans, have been created to support Kenney, principal of North Port High since its opening in 2001.
"I think I used poor judgment several times."īut the report also reflects the support and affection Kenney enjoys at the 2,300-student high school, about 90 miles south of Tampa. "I’m not saying I used great judgment all the time here," he told an investigator. The administrator’s situation then got stickier when an investigation showed that he had also hypnotized another student five months before her May 4 suicide, initially lied about it and had defied three separate verbal warnings to stop the sessions with students.Ī 134-page independent investigative report released by the district last week includes an interview with Kenney, who acknowledged defying the orders and then lying. Kenney was put on leave in May when the boy’s parents, who had given their permission for the sessions, raised concerns after his death.
In April, according to the Sarasota County School District report, he hypnotized a 16-year-old student to help him better focus on a test. Students looked forward to his demonstrations in a psychology class and at other school events.
Most students, teachers and fellow administrators at the southwest Florida school were aware that Kenney was a trained hypnotist who would eagerly help those who sought him out for sessions, according to a school district report. However, Kenney acknowledged conducting the sessions after being warned by his boss to stop such one-on-one hypnosis with students at school. There is no indication their deaths were any more than a tragic coincidence.
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» High school principal George Kenney acknowledged using hypnosis to help people: students who needed to relax before tests, a basketball player having trouble making free throws and even school secretaries who wanted to quit smoking.īut now the popular 51-year-old principal’s future at North Port High School is in question since it came to light that he had hypnotized two students before their separate suicides this spring.
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