The Powell school district is moving back into the former Home Ec Cottage.

After allowing the Powell MakerSpace to use the building for more than five years, Park County School District No. 1 now needs the room.

At a May 11 meeting, the district’s board of trustees heard a recommendation to accept a bid from Arete Design Group to remodel the building, which sits at the corner of Clark and Third streets. The motion was approved at a cost of $49,500. The design group will draw the schematics for the space, prepare construction documents, attend the bidding and complete construction administration and project management duties.

“We’ve already had the walk through,” said PSCD1 Superintendent Jay Curtis. “The intent is for the architect to be done in a month, go out to bid late in the summer and be done by Jan. 1.”

The district is relocating its increasing number of special educators and support personnel to the facility. The district has a growing demand for special education services, as well as mental health support.

“We’re planning for the future,” Curtis said. “We have 12 people now, but we’re planning for 16 or 18 people. There will be a few offices, but we’ll use cubicles for most of them.”

Mental health services are provided through grant funding, but there was no room that provided the perfect combination of location, space and privacy for the therapist and assistants.

So it was that the decision was made to use the cottage for those growing needs. Moving the special services to the cottage will free up space in the Shoshone Learning Center for the district’s new virtual academy. 

District officials have said they’re willing to work with MakerSpace and be as flexible as possible about the move date, but everyone is hoping to get the move underway early in June. 

Shaylee Hancock, treasurer of the board of directors of Powell MakerSpace, called the move “very exciting.”

A makerspace is a collaborative area for learning, making and sharing projects and ideas that use high tech or even no tech tools. Powell’s facility has equipment that would be quite expensive for a single business owner just starting out to purchase. There are two large pieces, a CNC mill and a CNC router.

Hancock hopes the move will make the Powell MakerSpace more focused.

“Last fall we had the focus groups, to find out how we could best serve the community, and we got great feedback from the community that helped us nail down the mission and vision,” she said.

The MakerSpace has been in the cottage since opening in early 2016.

“The school district was very generous with us and the space,” said Rebekah Burns, executive director of the Powell Chamber of Commerce. “But this move is so exciting in more ways than one. Not only do we get to focus on the offerings of MakerSpace, we get to continue to pave the way.”

Powell had the first MakerSpace in Wyoming, Burns pointed out.

“The building was great for us, but it’s just too large,” Hancock said. “We are going to focus on the mission of MakerSpace, the science, technology, engineering and math. And we’re super-excited to go back to the basics of MakerSpace and be able to serve the community in that way.”

Burns added that, “We strive as a non-profit to provide classes that teach technical usage at a price that the community can afford.” 

The new location for the community workspace has yet to be decided, but both Hancock and Burns were hopeful it would be decided by the end of May. Hancock said the organization had looked at several options, some that are shared with other community organizations and some that stand alone.

“We have some really good options, but it will remain centrally located,” Hancock said.