The Hollis Montessori School is heading to the town Planning Board to seek approval for improvements to its South Merrimack
Road campus.

The school has provided the board with a site plan seeking to make improvements that will allow it to serve 200 students and necessary staff, up from the current 120 students.

"We want to grow," said Head of School Kari Headington.

Although the application for changes was accepted in April, the issue has been tabled several times. The issue is on the board’s agenda for its Tuesday, Aug. 16, meeting.

The school started as a smaller operation on Proctor Hill Road. It has blossomed into a spread on 9 acres that the school’s board of directors worked to purchase, once the site of an orchard, a former pie manufacturing facility and a church.

The goal to add students was part of the school’s original plan, according to Headington. When the school first arrived on its current site about five years ago, it renovated a former Mile High Apple Pie production facility. The structure was functional, but not ideal in the long run.

"There was some in-between times when things weren’t as kept up," said Frank Grossman, president of the school’s board of directors.

The orchard, he said, was being minimally maintained. "We thought we’d grow something new here."

In 2011, a specially designed school building was raised to ensure that the Montessori ideals could be followed and better encouraged to the youngsters enrolled there.

"When the new building was being built, the septic design could accommodate 200 people. We knew that for the viability and health of the school, it would need to grow," Headington said.

The school teaches children from the elementary grades to age 15.

"Currently, we’re not looking to expand the building physically," said Headington. "What we’re doing right now is to expand numbers of students, which requires parking and road development."

The road Headington referred to is a gravel driveway leading to what was once a former bunkhouse, which once provided rudimentary lodging for migrant orchard workers at Woodmont. The red barn-like former dormitory is taking shape as a separate space to provide a dedicated learning environment for the school’s middle-school-aged students.

The gravel roadway connects to the school’s main classroom building and curves around the bunkhouse’s front door. This roadway is what the school hopes to improve to allow better and safe access for vehicles such as the town’s fire vehicles should the need arise.

"As with any regulations, there’s a formula," said Grossman. "It’s not that the parking lot fills up; you just have to go through the formula."

Inside the bunkhouse is evidence of old interior walls and communal bath and kitchen facilities provided for laborers when the orchard was active. Transformation work began around 2012.

"It was not in great shape when we moved in. We’ve done a ton of work to restore it," said Headington. "It’s got a lot of history to it."

A new sprinkler system, heating, plumbing and electrical systems are in a roughed-in state. New wide stairs provide access to the second floor. New windows throughout provide a view into nearby woods and fields, and to a portion of a pathway leading to the school’s pond.

Cleanout and preparation was done by parents of students. Now that new systems are being installed, it’s up to hired contractors to take over. Once the school receives town approval, work can continue.

Don Himsel can be reached at 594-6590, dhimsel@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DonH.

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