Photo courtesy of Ken Crawford.

A former Washington resident is the new superintendent for the Lone Tree Community School District.

Ken Crawford is now in his 30th year working in education. He most recently served as principal and athletic director for 13 years at Wilton Community School District. Prior to that he taught business for 16 years. Crawford describes accepting the position, “I think first of all as the principal and A.D. and I’ve been a teacher, I think I was just ready for that next step and that next level of administration. And secondly, being a southeast Iowa guy, I’m from Washington originally. I’m not going to leave this area, I love this part of the state with Iowa City and Washington, and the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City corridor is just expanding and exploding and it’s just fun to be near it. I don’t want to live there, but I like to be near it.”

Crawford is excited about different development projects occurring in Lone Tree, including the Community Wellness Center. Crawford says he’d like to approach the Johnson County Supervisors to change zoning regulations in order to get more housing and business development in Lone Tree. Crawford’s first school board meeting as superintendent of the Lions is Wednesday at 7 p.m.