A recent settlement put an end to a bizarre investigation that began in April 2011 in North Port, Florida. Former principal of North Port High School, George Kenney, confessed to hypnotizing 16-year-old student, Wesley McKinley, leading to the teen’s suicide one day later. Kenney, an unlicensed mind-healer, agreed to “help” the student calm down over an upcoming interview with Juilliard, the results of which have raised speculation. Kenney did so even after being told to stop his unlicensed practices.

After confessing to his role in McKinley’s death, an investigation was started leading to a discovery that Kenney had hypnotized up to 75 students and staff over the span of five years at the school for various reasons, according to the Herald-Tribune. Two students in addition to McKinley, Marcus Freeman and Brittany Palumbo, died after being hypnotized.

Freeman died in a fatal car crash, and Palumbo also committed suicide. The school board met on Tuesday,Oct. 6, and approved a $600,000 settlement for the families of the victims. The civil case of the matter, however, is due to go to trial on Oct. 12.

A sum of $200,000 was given to each of the three families. That is what their children’s lives cost — at least that is what the board decided. How can any living being expect a dollar amount to replace the loss of a child, brother, sister, cousin, niece, nephew, etc? Those families have to live with the fact their child is gone because of what their once-trusted principal did to them.

Think about those who are still alive and the emotional toll that it has taken on them. They have to live with the fact that someone who was placed in such a high position of authority used them and their trust.

This case has brought several concerns to the table. These people put their trust in someone who was supposed to have the students’ best interest in mind, but instead deceived numerous students and staff members. What does this say about our school systems? Better yet, who can we really trust? We put our faith in the law and our leaders to make good choices and to not put us into dangerous positions, but how can we be sure?We can only hope that we are safe in the place that we are forced to go.

Every day we talk about different things that are going on in our lives; what is trending, the latest gossip, the polls, who will be our next president … but what about that really matters? What about our safety? We need more ways to ensure our safety in our schools. How many school shootings and cases like this are we going to let happen before we take action? How many lives are going be lost?

Many people do not even know who our principal is, which is horrifying. How can one go to school almost eight hours a day and not know who their principal is? How can we put all of our trust into someone we barely even know? How naive are we?

If Kenney could easily hypnotize and control so many people, others can simply correct his mistakes and do his job ten times better. We need to start taking serious precautions and monitoring people’s actions, because who knows what goes on behind the closed doors of our very own school. Is there a price on safety?What sacrifices are we willing to make?