Public access of school makerspaces?

[Jonathan Bijur]

My nonprofit consults to schools on creating and strengthening maker education programming, primarily for K-8. I'm working with a school district here in Los Angeles that is in the planning stages of a new middle school STEM building that will include a substantial makerspace, 1500+ sf plus adjacent semi-enclosed patio. The discussion turned to involving community members in supporting classes, clubs, and open makerspace access for students, and we all got excited about designing a program that would allow for community access to the facility, perhaps in the evenings or on weekends, both as a benefit to the community and a way to connect adult makers with the school-day program.

Do you know of any models for school makerspaces providing public access or community/adult classes? This is for a public school, but the experiences of charter or private schools are relevant too.

Jonathan Bijur

Executive Director

Rediscover Center

[Cassie Kise]

Hi Jonathan,

While I do not know of any K-12 spaces that do this, I know that there are plenty of universities with this model. Back when I was in higher education, I used to be part of the Student Shop Manager Consortium (SSMC is higherEd focused) and recall this coming up quite a bit both in private and public universities. It may be worth joining the conversation there to understand how their models work. (Sorry not to remember any specific institution offhand; it's been a few years!)

Since we are in California, the one thing I can imagine being tricky with publicly accessible K-12 spaces is compliance with California AB506, which has to do with background checks and child abuse. I know this was recently extended to volunteers and that the private school I work at is sensitive to adults on campus who do not have a LiveScan on file with the DOJ/the school. It may be worth checking with legal on the district's end to understand existing legal parameters.

Hope this is helpful!

Cassie

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Cassie Kise (she/her/hers)

Director of the Carter Innovation Studios

The Athenian School

2100 Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd.

Danville, CA 94506

Office: 925-362-7266

Life is an adventure of intellectual exploration and meaningful contribution.

Athenian Faculty: Book a 30 minute CIS Curriculum Consultation with me. 

[god...@skillmillnyc.com]

Yes - get in touch with this group https://sites.google.com/annaisd.org/annaisdmakerspace/home

They run an amazing makerspace program that combines community and school and they have a fabulous facility.

I can give you a person to contact if you write to me directly - I don't want to put someone's email on a public site without permission.

Godwyn

Godwyn Morris

Director

Dazzling Discoveries / Skill Mill NYC

[cmy...@gmail.com]

I'm late to the party here, but I agree that keeping an eye on California AB506 is important. I kind of did it in the opposite direction. 

My nonprofit leases space from the school (evenings/weekends/holidays) and allows the (private) school to use it during the day. I carry separate insurance for my programs and always have at least on cleared staff member on site (with guest artists, or free community events). I don't know if that would matter so much if it were only adults accessing the space. It does take some negotiation about what consumable / maintenance / repair costs are my company's vs. what the school covers. Some machines (like the laser cutter or P1S) can only be used my my staff. Other things (Chompsaws, glue guns, A1 minis, consumables) are used during the school day, too.