Musically oriented charter school in Dorchester wins approval for expansion of one of its buildings

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by the Conservatory Lab Charter School to add a cafeteria, gym and new classroom to its K1-to-grade-2 school at 131 Hancock St. in Dorchester.

The school is planning to use the roughly 6,000-square-foot addition to its current 19,000-square-foot building as a benefit for its current students, rather than for expanding the number of students, its attorney, Donald Wiest, said. The school has a separate school building for students in grades 3-8.

The school, open to students across Boston, was founded on the belief that musical education should be intergral to academic pursuits," Weist said.