New principal named for troubled Irmo High School
Irmo High School has a new principal, the Lexington-Richland 5 school district announced Tuesday.
Acting Principal Kaaren Hampton was named the full-time replacement for Robin Hardy, who is formally stepping down at the end of the school year. Hampton, an assistant principal at the school, was named the acting principal in February when it was announced Hardy would take medical leave for several weeks.
Hampton has served as the assistant principal of instruction at Irmo High School for the past 12 years. She started her education career as an English teacher at the high school in 2002. Hampton has a bachelor’s degree from Winthrop University, a master’s from Columbia College and a doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University.
Hampton was previously named teacher of the year in 2006 and was named to The State’s 20 Under 40 in 2018.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve as the principal of Irmo High School,” Hampton said in a statement. “Irmo has a special place in my heart as an alum and I look forward to continuing the tradition of excellence. Throughout my years at Irmo High School, I have been deliberately learning, listening, and connecting to what serves our students, parents, faculty and staff the best way possible. I believe that now I know Irmo’s past, I know her present, and I have a vision for her future.”
Hardy, the former principal, had already announced plans to leave Irmo High at the end of the school year after four years in charge. Her departure comes after a string of fights on Irmo High School’s campus led to concerns about student safety. Students led a walkout on Feb. 4 to protest the administration’s handling of a student accused of groping multiple classmates, days after an off-campus shooting was tied by law enforcement to fights on campus. The walkout led to on-campus classes being suspended for two days as students moved to online learning and the district set up an internal alternative academy at Irmo for students with behavioral problems.
Lexington-Richland 5 said the student safety situation did not contribute to Hardy’s departure, but school board member Nikki Gardner wrote to a parent in an email that the problems were “of course why we are in the process of changing the leadership... We are getting better leadership and that is what matters to get this school back on track. We know there are problems, and we do lay the blame at the feet of the leadership.”
Irmo High School was the scene of at least 25 fights, assaults and threats reported to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department during the fall semester, far higher than other Midlands high schools reported during the same period.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 12:34 PM.
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