Dusty Paul

Park County School District 1 board member Dusty Paul is running for re-election with the same motivations as what spurred him to run last time, albeit with a different plan on how to achieve results.

Paul is a Powell native who graduated from Powell High School in 2005 before moving to Arizona for a time to attend the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. After moving back to the Basin, he worked as a mechanic and a house builder before taking a job with Marathon Oil and settling down with his childhood friend and wife, Lynnet. Together, they have six children and serve as the co-owners and instructors at Big Horn Martial Arts Academy.

Paul has served on the board since 2022 following a contentious race between 11 candidates for four seats. Paul campaigned on parent and community communication and collaboration, fitting district policies to community standards and providing more security resources for the school. He initially expected to push through changes forcibly, but said he quickly learned the legal and financial constraints facing the district.

“I came in really hard thinking I was just going to sledgehammer everything, thinking that was what the district needed. But I had to realize that it’s like working on a car and maintaining it doesn't require that kind of force,” Paul said. “Now, I just feel more like that we have a responsibility to protect what we have and what we’ve been able to provide the people of Powell.”

Safety remains a priority for Paul, who advocated for additional school resource officers, additional training for teachers and approaches to security beyond conventional camera systems and locked doors. He was proud of the board’s discussions regarding district employees carrying firearms, saying he respected the process even though members might disagree on some of the issues. He wants to see the discussion continue throughout the district and see more support for staff who voluntarily take on additional training.

Paul also expressed pride in the board’s decision to expand the public comment period at the end of meetings to topics beyond the scope of agenda items and sees it as a major accomplishment. Direct, face-to-face conversations, especially with people who might disagree with him, are something that Paul values greatly and wants members of the district and the community to feel as involved as possible.

“I want to hear from people, and even if we have another controversial event where we have like 100 people in the room that all want to be heard, that’s our job to hear that and the board agreed with that,” Paul said. “I’m really proud of our decision to give people that opportunity.”

Moving forward, Paul wants to see the district continue to work on reviewing policies that may otherwise need to be updated as conditions change, including technology and coaching.

While his focus has shifted from expecting political fights when his term started to enjoying working alongside members of the board and the community to protect their work in keeping the district strong, his central motivations remain ensuring that students can learn and grow in the district and supporting staff members through raises and expanded resources.

“Being on the board for the last four years, I came in and realized how the system works and I had to learn a bunch,” Paul said. “I had to realize that everyone on the board was just genuinely a good person and that all of them just wanted to take care of all of the kids.”