The former Sidwell Friends School psychologist accused of having an affair with the married mother of a student he was treating is no longer with a D.C. counseling group that has a connection to Sidwell’s board of trustees.
“I am taking a leave of absence from the Wake Kendall practice for a while,” James Huntington says in his voicemail message as of Tuesday morning.
The Wake Kendall Group PLLC is named for psychologist Anne Kendall, one of about two dozen therapists with the practice. Her husband David is on Sidwell’s board of trustees.
A call to Wake Kendall seeking comment Tuesday morning was not immediately returned.
Huntington and Sidwell were sued for $10 million last week by Arthur “Terry” Newmyer III, whose daughter is a kindergarten student at Sidwell. Newmyer charges that Huntington had an affair with his wife while professionally treating his daughter, causing emotional trauma for the girl, and that Sidwell officials openly allowed it.
The D.C. Department of Health’s board of psychology plans to review Huntington’s license at a closed meeting on Thursday.
Ellis Turner, the associate head of schools at Sidwell, had said that the complaint is “without merit” and that school will protest it.
An attorney for Newmyer’s wife, Tara, told the Examiner that Huntington was not treating the Newmyers’ daughter.
Calls to Huntington for comment have not been returned.
