AUBURN - Tyburn Academy of Mary Immaculate has picked up a habit for expansion.

After spending the last seven years in a converted dental laboratory, the private school in Auburn opened the year in a much larger venue - the old St. Mary's Elementary School on Clymer Street - that provided easy access to growth, both in course offerings as well as enrollment.

Just a few months later, the Catholic high school applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a license to construct a radio station that would, among other things, provide for greater outreach and educational opportunities for Auburn and the communities that surround it.

Now, Tyburn has announced plans to create a middle school to compliment its high school, with a grand opening for fall 2008.

“After getting established for a year (at the new facility), we felt it was the next step,” Principal Jeanne Hogan said.

The late Rev. Albert Shamon, who founded Tyburn Academy in 1993, had urged the board of directors to establish a middle school, Hogan said. But at the time the school was located in a facility that was too small to accommodate student growth.

That all changed this year.

“We felt we needed to reach out to middle school students as well as high school students,” she said,

The middle school would bring some continuity to the high school, Hogan said. From the way she sees it, it's easier to start a new school in the sixth grade than in ninth, a time when friendships and social lives are usually well-defined.

Yet she wanted to make clear that establishing a middle school was in no way a critique of the other schools in the area.

“It is not the intent of the Tyburn administration to compete with the other middle schools in the city,” Hogan said in a news release. “Though competition is good for high quality education, each middle school has its own charisma and unique opportunities so that the diverse needs of area children and families can be met.”

Plans are currently under way to open registration for grades six through eight for the fall of 2008. Curriculum is being organized and all forms and paperwork for state recognition is in Albany, Hogan said.

Tyburn is required to follow the state guidelines for curriculum, but does not receive state aid.

Teachers will soon be hired, though Hogan said the exact number will be determined by how many students are registered. Interested families are directed to call the school at 252-2937 during school hours for more information.

And in terms of space, the academy has so far only occupied the first floor of the school building and a classroom or two on the second floor. There are five or six vacant classrooms on the second floor suited for student learning.

Hogan said there are nearly 15 families that have expressed interested in the middle school. Among them is Ann Fallon, who said she is “100 percent” committed to sending her two middle school-aged children, Sophia, 13, and Grace, 11, to Tyburn's middle school.

“My husband and I always have been committed to Tyburn Academy,” the Auburn woman said. “We're just fortunate our kids have finally reached the age. We've been waiting for this for years.”

From the religious teachings to the smaller class sizes, Fallon said, Tyburn fits what both she and her children are looking for in a school.

Sophia and Grace, along with Curt Blackman, 12, of Phelps, and Eileen Weichert, 13, of Skaneateles, came to Tyburn on Friday to shadow high school students and see what learning is like inside the academy's walls.

“I like that everybody gets attention,” Weichert said of the school's size. “It's smaller.”

In fact, the size of the school resonated with all four prospective students. They said they felt comfortable in an intimate environment where no one was going to be left out.

“I don't want to go to public school,” Sophia said. “It's too big.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net