COVID-19 concerns have led to the cancellation or postponement of all extracurricular activities for students in the Lone Tree School District.  In a letter dated and posted Monday (11/23) by Superintendent Ken Crawford, “It was decided today for Lone Tree Schools to pause all school activities for this week. All games, practices, or school activities fall under this stoppage of activities. This will include all activities of the (Thanksgiving) holiday as well.” The move to suspend all district activities took effect sooner than originally planned. Last week, the district’s waiver request was approved by the state for all Lone Tree schools to move to virtual learning from November 30 to December 11 which would mean suspension or cancellation of all school activities during that period. And while extracurricular activities could have continued as Lone Tree middle and high school were learning virtually Monday and Tuesday of this week, the superintendent’s letter noted, “Reports given to the administration suggested more student-athletes could be quarantined from a positive case this past weekend. As the discussion proceeded, it became clear the uncertainty was prevalent with this situation. We decided to be proactive and safe for the sake of our own students but also students and parents of another community.” When Lone Tree’s online waiver application was submitted, the district’s student absentee rate was 12.8 percent and the staff absentee rate was 16 percent due to COVID-19.  Also factoring in their application was Johnson County’s then-14-day positivity rate of 17 percent with a 24-hour positivity rate of 31.06 percent.