Highland parents hoping to let their kids run off steam at the Lincoln Center fieldhouse during the school shutdown will have to find another outlet.
The fieldhouse will be closed to the public for at least the four weeks that school’s out starting Monday morning, the Highland Town Council decided at an emergency meeting Friday evening. Other areas in the center, such as classrooms, day care and the fitness center, however, will remain open as the council finalizes the town’s COVID-19 response.
Additionally, any time full-time employees who come down with the virus would be paid without having the absence count against whatever time they have accrued via the response, but likely will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 testing when it becomes widely available, the council said.
Highland Fire Chief Bill Timmer pointed out that because testing for the virus remains sparse at least as of Friday, it’s hard to know if someone is actually has it or influenza A or B, or if they’re faking illness altogether. But all that doesn’t matter for the time being, he said.
“If you’re symptomatic, stay out of the workplace,” Timmer said. “I get it that it’s difficult, but I feel like I’m standing at the edge of an iceberg, here, and you guys know I tell you like it is. And the stories (about how many people have tested positive for COVID-19) are rampant, but until you test, you don’t know.
“No one wants what’s going on in Washington State.”
As of Saturday, 15 Indiana residents have tested positive for the virus, including a person from LaPorte County, according to the State Department of Health.
The council, along with all the department heads, agreed for the most part that part-time employees also should be paid if they’re out for COVID-19, but they were unable to reach a consensus as to what those payments would look like. That conversation will continue during Monday night’s study session.
The decision to close the Lincoln Center fieldhouse only, meanwhile, came because it’s the largest room in the center and therefore carries the biggest risk of having too many people in close proximity. Parks and Recreation Superintendent Alex Brown said with classes or even the fitness center, the potential for close proximity is lessened.
As well, for an operation where half its funding comes from events and outside classes, it can ill-afford to cancel anything more unless it’s mandated — which it still could be at any moment.
“The things we canceled this weekend and next weekend are killing us already,” Brown said.
The council voted unanimously to allow Council President Mark Schocke, R-3rd, to make the final decisions as to what will remain open for the next month.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
