The attorney general has annouced a $5 million preliminary settlement with Stone Academy and its owners to resolve claims the state and former students filed.
In February 2023, Stone Academy, a for-profit nursing school, announced that it was abruptly closing all three campuses across the state after more than 150 years of operation.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s office has accused the owners of the former school of siphoning millions of dollars and leaving students with unfulfilled promises.
Tong said the state won’t retain any of the $5 million other than $150,000, which will be used to help Stone Academy students prepare for exit exams.
He said the specific compensation to the individual impacted students will be determined through the private class-action process, subject to court approval.
The settlement also includes measures to help impacted students complete their education and professional exams, including remedial programs and the potential for students to complete their studies through the Griffin Hospital School of Allied Health Careers, according to a news release from the attorney general’s office.
Tong said the state Department of Public Health will end licensure investigations based solely on a nurse’s attendance at Stone Academy.
The owner of the school will also be barred from employment in higher education in Connecticut for five years, according to a news release from Tong’s office.
The terms of the preliminary settlement will be filed on Friday in Hartford Superior Court and it is subject to court approval.
NBC Connecticut reached out to the law firm representing Stone Academy in at least one of the lawsuits on Friday morning and they said in an email that they are not “doing any media on the case.”
Tong said the preliminary settlement would resolve all claims that the state and students have filed.
When one of the owners of Stone Academy testified in October 2023, he claimed the Office of Higher Education didn’t provide enough insight into the alleged violations.
“The State of Connecticut did not provide us with any depth as to what actually was going to need to be fixed because there was no follow up, we didn’t have the luxury of the information that you showed earlier from Department of Public Health, and at that point, they were asking for an audit on items where they didn’t even identify the depth of what they were,” he said.
In March, the state secured $5 million in a prejudgment remedy.
In granting the prejudgment remedy, the judge said that the state has established probable cause that it would prevail in its case against Stone Academy.
That was the second prejudgment remedy granted in the case.
In December 2023, former Stone Academy students were granted a $5 million prejudgment remedy.