The Haines Borough School District has opened the Karl Ward Gym, weight room and showers from 6 to 7:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Sessions cost $2 or $20 for a 12-session pass.
“It’s great to get in there and work on my game,” said Krista Kielsmeier, who showed up at 6:10 a.m. Monday to shoot hoops. “At night, the gym is just about scrimmaging.”
The new hours started in December and will continue at least through February, said Community Education director John Hagen.
Superintendent Ginger Jewell said she was asked by a community member to consider morning hours.
“I took it to (Hagen) and we talked strategy about how to make it happen within our current resource constraints, both time and budget. Therefore, we are working within our current budget. We arrived at what we thought was a workable solution and (Hagen) is giving it a test run to see if it is popular,” Jewell said.
“I was informed that Sundays historically had not been attended so we backburnered that idea for the present,” Jewell said.
Hagen said this week the morning sessions have been drawing about four users of the weight room and one gym user. As many as a dozen turn out to use the weight room during evening hours, he said.
The gym, weight room and showers are open to the public 7:30 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
Hagen said the district would use turnout to determine whether to continue morning hours after February.