Written by Barbara O'Brien - Buffalo News
Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School hung on for years through demographic changes that saw thousands of families leave Buffalo.
When James Newton became principal of the 77-year-old school five years ago, enrollment was 162, a far cry from a student census that hovered near 1,000 three or four decades ago.
Timon continued to struggle through anemic enrollment figures, hovering at 30 to 40 students for each incoming class through last school year, when graduating Class of 2023 had 45 students.
This school year is different. The incoming freshman class has 95 students, the largest in 18 years. Enrollment is now close to 280 and is expected to top 300 next school year. “We’re on par to be in that same range this year,” said Christopher Metz, Class of 1977 and a member of the board of trustees.
The turnaround at the all-male high school has come after new board leadership, capital investments in the building and a staff member dedicated to engaging with eighth-graders. The school also is engaging its more than 9,000 alumni to help.
Enrollment increased during the pandemic, which Newton attributes to the school staying open for in-person classes for the most part. Enrollment in Catholic schools nationwide has grown 3.5% during the last two years, according to the Catholic News Agency.
For years, Timon has been seen almost as a neighborhood school. It remains the heartbeat of South Buffalo, leaders say, but the outreach is growing. There are students from all parts of Buffalo and suburbs, including Tonawanda, North Tonawanda, Cheektowaga and southern Erie County.
“We have several students now that take two to three buses just to get here in the morning from the City of Buffalo,” Newton said.
It doesn’t hurt that the school’s sports teams are winning. The varsity basketball team won the Manhattan Cup championship last year, its first championship since 2001. The Tigers football team repeated as Monsignor Martin B Division champion last month for the second consecutive year.
Director of Admissions Brendan Graham, Class of 2010, spends his time reaching out to students from all walks of life. Classrooms are family focused, so students feel welcome and safe, he said.
“We’ve done some cool things, getting the guys to see our alumni in the next step of their life, that they can walk that walk after they’ve been in these halls with them,” Graham said.
Curriculum has changed – out with the Regents, in with more project-based learning. Classes such as E-sports teach computer basics, and students obtain licenses to operate drones in pre-engineering.
“What I tell them all the time is the brotherhood that you have here isn’t just the guys that you’re going through with right now. But it’s the 9,000 gentlemen that graduated before you that can help you, can mentor you, can hire,” said director of advancement Lysa Elis, whose son graduated in 2020.
And the alumni are key to the creation of something new to Timon: an endowment.
Current school leaders aren’t sure why there wasn’t one, and believe there were several attempts, but surmise at a certain point the school was trying to survive day to day and didn’t have the resources to start one.
“If we’re going to take on the responsibility of growing the school, we have to have a solid financial basis for that,” Metz said. “We want to get to the point where the income from an endowment takes the stress off of the day-to-day, week-to-week operations of school.”
The board seeks input raising $3 million to $5 million, but it will be an ongoing process even when the goal is reached, Metz said.
The school has or is in the process of making $1 million in capital improvements, including $250,000 to refurbish all the classrooms. The $500,000 construction of a 2,800-square-foot athletic training facility is finished. A $350,000 renovation to the school cafeteria is to start over Christmas break with a $300,000 commitment from restaurateur Russell Salvatore.
Newton credited the vision of Carl Paladino, Class of 1964, in providing seed funding to start the athletic training facility project, and commitment of alumni Robert Stark, Class of 1975, David Burke, Class of 1977, and Metz, who helped design and build the facility.
Newton credits the turnaround to paying attention to school climate, academics and extracurricular activities.
“If you don’t have a positive school climate,” he said, “then usually you don’t do well on academics. So we focus on a positive school climate. You want all of the students to feel comfortable here. I think those three things right there are making Timon what it is today and we just keep growing exponentially.”