IRMO, S.C. — About two years ago, Irmo High School created what was called "the Nest".
The "school within a school concept" was established to decrease discipline referrals by providing more niche academic and behavioral help.
Now, the "Nest" is transitioning, and it's newly called "student focus."
Irmo High School principal Dr. Kaaren Hampton said it's more of a prevention model instead of intervention.
"The initial thought of the "Nest" was not for it to be long term. It's not a, you stay here all the time. It was intended for students to flow back and through and for them to be able to go back to their original classes, to their original schedules," Hampton said.
Dr. Hampton explains the new "student focus" model is more integrated, not in a designated room or hallway anymore as "the Nest" once was.
She adds that they are now using an MTSS model, which stands for Multi-Tiered System of Supports.
A model that Hampton says is more commonly seen used in earlier grades, but a system the entire Lexington-Richland School District Five uses.
Hampton explains that in this new "student focus" model, a student can be referred to "student focus" through a teacher filling out a form. Then an administrator and school counselor work through a plan to allocate resources to this student with their family.
She says that the parties involved, including counselors, administrators, social workers, clinical counselors, and expectation coaches meet to check in on a monthly basis with students in "student focus." She explains that these students could need and receive help for one semester, or three. It depends on the student.
"What we saw was, coming out of COVID, we had quite a number of students who did not have the self-regulatory skills. Being at home for two years, you kind of get out of the practice, so what we noticed was students got back into the habit. They got back into the habit of school, they got back into the habit of talking face to face with peers, talking with their teachers, being able to rely on a trusted adult that you see four, five days a week, so our numbers decreased," Hampton said.
Hampton emphasized that the number of disciplinary referrals decreased in the "Nest." She said from the beginning to the end of the 2022-2023 school year, fewer than 30 students flowed through the "Nest", and that the school ended with 14 in it.
She says the goal all along has been to nurture students that need the extra help.