DEVENS — The private Applewild School has announced plans to open a preschool branch in Devens, pending state licensing approval.
The school, which currently serves students from preschool to eighth grade, plans to open in September. The new site will be a preschool and child care center for children at least 2.9 years old, according to a statement released on the Applewild website.
The school declined to offer any further comment as it awaits licensing from the state.
The statement says the site will also serve as a “transportation hub” for families with children going to the school in Fitchburg, where its current preschool, lower and upper schools are located.
Applewild Publicity Coordinator Peggy Williamson explained in an email that for now, “transportation hub” means an additional bus stop. The school currently has a bus service along Route 2 from Concord and Acton.
The school is working with MassDevelopment real estate to come up with a land location and acquire it, said Peter Lowitt, director of the Devens Enterprise Commission.
But in the meantime, he said, they will be operating in One Jackson Place at 27 Jackson Road, where Mount Wachusett Community College also operates.
Once the school is licensed, Lowitt said the DEC will need to approve minor site plan changes to construct an outdoor playground area in its temporary spot.
“They’ll have to do some building permit and licensing issues, and then they’ll be moving in for the fall,” he said.
The excess space in the building at One Jackson Place is pretty big and the school should be able to cut out an area for its temporary place, Lowitt said.
The school expects to be licensed in June, after which it will be able to post “a full description of the Applewild at Devens preschool program,” the Applewild statement reads.
If approved, the school will be one more addition to the handful of mostly private schools in Devens, including Francis Parker Charter Essential School and Evergreen Garden Play School.
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