Plum hires athletic director Drew Karpen away from Highlands

Drew Karpen is Plum Borough School District’s new athletic director and coordinator of student activities following his hiring at the June 13 school board meeting.

Karpen served as athletic director and transportation director at Highlands School District. Prior to that, he was an assistant in the North Allegheny athletic department.

He is on the WPIAL’s baseball committee and performs several roles within the league’s Big 56 conferences. Karpen is an officer in the Northern Area Athletic Directors Association, and an instructor in human kinetics and sports first aid educational courses for coaches.

Prior to entering the education field, Karpen was a sports reporter for newspapers including the Tribune-Review.

He will be the fourth athletic director for Plum in a four-year span, a number that Michael Devine, school board president, admitted was embarrassing. Devine said that several clauses, including a $10,000 payment to the district should Karpen leave, will help retain Karpen during his entire contract.

Karpen said at the school board meeting that he is already in the process of moving him and his family to Plum.

The board also accepted the resignation of Superintendent Brendan Hyland and appointed Rick Walsh as interim superintendent. Several parents attended the meeting to ask the board to delay hiring a new athletic director so that Hyland’s recommendation could not be approved. Walsh threw his support behind Karpen, saying he was involved in the hiring process and that Karpen was his recommendation.

“I vetted the candidate,” Walsh said. “I believe, from somebody who grew up in Plum that’s frustrated about the turnover in the department, from somebody who was a student-athlete here at Plum, it bothers me more than most of you probably realize. I know the benefits that position can bring to the school district. I believe that we have an exceptional candidate, and the administration supports this candidate moving forward.”

Still, several board members expressed concern over the hiring process, not of Karpen. Michelle Stepnick said the board didn’t get to interview Karpen until just prior to the June 13 meeting.

“I have a real issue with our process. I legitimately do. I have a problem with meeting a candidate for the first time, maybe with or without a resume, an hour before the meeting,” Stepnick said. “I want to be able to read a resume. I want to be able to understand where somebody is, and ask intelligent questions.”

She did thank Walsh for providing sufficient information prior to the interview.

“Tonight was the most prepared that I have felt with an administrative candidate that I have in three-and-a-half years,” she said.

Board member Amy Wetmore said that when she came into the meeting, she was on the fence, but that the interview was one of the best she’s ever conducted. Ron Sakolsky stated that he really liked the candidate but abstained from voting because of the hiring process.

Megan Chuderewicz voted against the hire, also citing the process rather than Karpen. The other seven board members voted in favor.

“My vote is not personal at all,” said Chuderewicz. “It comes with communication issues, processing issues and most of all, trust. I think the community has lost trust in a lot of people.”

Devine said that the hiring process, specifically the timeline portion that Stepnick raised concerns about, will be discussed moving forward.

Angela Anderson, the board’s lead personnel board liaison, said that the interview team consists of administrators at the district, high school and middle school levels. The process included three rounds of interviews with the same questions to each candidate from multiple interviewers, who then scored each candidate individually before deciding who should move on as a group. The school district had 20 candidates for the position.

Karpen will make $95,000 for 2023-24, with his start date to be determined.

Karpen assumes the Plum AD duties from Scott Heinauer, a former AD and football coach at Mars who was hired as the interim AD at Plum in February.

Heinauer took over for Brian Miller, who stepped down in January after one year with Plum athletics, citing family reasons for his decision.

Heinauer said at the time of his hire that he wasn’t sure how long he would serve in the position but was ready to do so as long as needed.

Plum’s spring season concluded May 31 when the baseball team was eliminated from its postseason run with a loss to rival Penn-Trafford in the WPIAL Class 5A third-place consolation game.

“It is an honor and hard to put into words my excitement on being named the new Athletic Director a at Plum Borough School District,” Karpen said Tuesday evening in a press release from the school district.

“This is one of the top school districts not only in the area, but in the state. I am looking forward to meeting with all of the student-athletes, coaches, parents, administrators, and community members to show them I am here to support them long-term.”

Karpen was hired at Highlands in late August 2019 and served as AD there for four academic years.

Staff writer Michael Love contributed.