After two years of retirement from the public school system Karen decided to accept the director of her long-time church's Parents Morning Out (PMO) program. In 2012 she became interim director of the elementary and pre-school programs when the previous long-term director left abruptly. She chose not to apply for the permanent director position. In May 2013 a new director was selected by the church's education committee and she took a demotion down to director of only the pre-school program where she loves her work in making the program more professional.