Haines has gone more than a year without public access to the school’s gym, where residents traditionally have gone to exercise, compete on the court with friends and escape winter gloom.
Haines Borough School District superintendent Roy Getchell said he plans to open the gym by mid-October but first needs to hire a supervisor. He said he will work with the Haines Borough Emergency Operations Center to devise COVID-19 mitigation protocol for the gym, which has been closed since the start of the pandemic. He said the October opening is “not atypical.”
“It’ll be really good. Hopefully the (downward) trend continues with COVID in the community,” Getchell said.
Haines resident Joe Parnell had been using the gym for more than 20 years before it closed to the public due to COVID.
“It’s really, really cold here in the winter, and it’s really sad that the community can’t use the gym,” Parnell said. “People need healthy activities to do, and the gym at the school is the only gym in Haines…where you can play basketball, volleyball, pickleball.”
Getchell said scheduling details will be available once a new supervisor is hired. Several applicants have applied.