Retiring Herren reflects on accomplishments, looks to time ahead with family

Published 2:16 pm Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Kip Herren has heard the talk, something about him being a lame duck.

Because he’s in his final weeks as Auburn School District superintendent.

Allow him to set the record straight about his gait these days — don’t call it a waddle, call it a wag.

“Truth is, I consider myself a lucky dog,” said Herren, 64.

The barely-restrained grin that keeps threatening to bust loose from his face says it all.

Yes, Dennis “Kip” Herren, hired to the post seven years ago upon the retirement of Superintendent Linda Cowan, is one happy fellow.

And why wouldn’t he be?

Ahead of him, unlimited time with the family he adores, especially his eight grandchildren, the latter group composed of Joey, Mary, Alice, Frances, Dora, Auggie, Alicia and Willa. Time with his wife Julie, who years ago, and without his knowledge, mailed his resume to the Auburn School District, which was just then looking for a wrestling coach and teacher.

“When I see what she’s done for others, I think I’m looking at the face of God,” Herren said.

Behind him, accomplishments sprinkled throughout a 38-year career in pubic education.

Some of these, like the new Auburn High School, which opened last September, are physical, brick, mortar and wood. In his office he keeps the sandwich informational board he wore every day during the campaign to win public support and financing for the new school.

“Only my wife could get me to take it off for a shower,” Herren recalled with a laugh.

He spoke with pride of the Auburn community for recognizing the importance of technology at the new school.

He’s proud of the TAP (Transition Assistance Program) program for 18-21 year olds with severe developmental disabilities.

“In the first year, building that, we didn’t have any money, so we had to build it sort of like a portable,” Herren said. “It’s a state-of-the-art program. We have people visiting from all over the state to come and see our TAP program and see how we are preparing those students so that they can live life in a community that cares about all of its children and adults.”

Another accomplishment, the Early Childhood Education Program.

“It doesn’t get much attention, but it’s providing for any kids who were born preemies, or who might be behind developmentally. We have developed this highly-regarded program to help those 3- and 4-year-olds to be ready for kindergarten,” Herren said. “And when I look at the outcomes for children with autism when they entered the school system 20 years ago, and I look at what the outcomes are for those children when they’re in the program, it just inspires me to see the difference that early intervention makes. A big part of that is that they are with normally functioning peers.”

A third is all-day kindergarten in every school, a legacy of Cowan. Looking at literacy performance when the district has kids full time and how much more ready they are for the first grade, the results, he said, “are incredible.”

Old coach approach

The philosophy that guided him as a teacher, and later as Auburn High School principal, deputy superintendent and finally superintendent, he says, evolved from his experience coaching wresting at AHS.

“I’m an old coach, and one year I went to the Olympics to help coach,” Herren said. “I was in a doctoral program at the time. We had to gather data for the old DOS systems that you had to program. I thought, ‘I’m going to track every single move and its success rate in the tournament.’ Later, I plugged all that into the DOS program, and it gave me a coefficient of high yield on certain attempted techniques. There were nine basic techniques at the highest level that were most fundamental, that executed the highest return in score and points.

“I implemented that into my wrestling program and, lo and behold, two years later we qualified our whole team for the state meet, instead of qualifying only one or two gifted kids, because they had mastered the high yield strategies. We could have  qualified a second team behind them,” Herren said.

Same is true, Herren said, for reading and math comprehension. If early on, before grade 3, the data shows that kids can read with comprehension, that kids can problem solve in math with high skill performance, then they have no trouble with algebra or, indeed with school.

“I’m so proud of my teachers, how they have embraced the idea of collaborating. You know how many teacher leaders we’ve had? Two-hundred-fifty go through teacher leadership training every year. It’s training them to be teacher leaders, not to become administrators. To know instruction, to be able to analyze data for every kid and then make instructional changes,” Herren said. “And to have the time to collaborate to do that, it’s made a significant difference in what teachers are able to do,” Herren said.

Some unfinished business

One regret, he said, is that he would have liked to see the 3-phased AHS project completed.

“But my family needs me now, more than the Auburn School District does,” Herren said.

“I’ve got eight beautiful grandkids who just could really use a grandpa, and I want to be there for them. They’re in the school system, and they all live close by. Those grandkids are just delights. It was hard to give up seeing that through, but I figure I’m going to sit with Joey, and Mary, and Alice, and Frances, and Dorothy, and Auggie, and Alicia and Willa. I’m going to watch them play on those fields and perform in that facility, and that was the part that made me realize I need to be with my family at this time.

“I have a 34-year-old daughter with autism who has inspired me,” he said. “She lost her agency in September … I may start up an agency for adults with severe disabilities, so that we can serve our families and our adults with disabilities.”

When he interviewed for that wrestling job so many years ago, Herren recalled, he never envisioned his life and career could work out the way they have. He credits his wife and his intellectual curiosity about organizations for how it shaped up.

“I was a polio victim when I was 2 years old, and I spent a good deal of time in a hospital and was a March of Dimes poster boy. The institution got me to walk,” he said. “There was an outbreak of 150 cases of polio in Malheur County, Ore. And I was in a closet and an iron lung. So there was this organization, this institution I encountered when I was a 2-year-old early, and that was an early forming period for me …

“Every day I pull into the parking lot behind the administration building, and I park in Linda’s parking space, I walk up the stairs and think, ‘What the hell am I doing here? How did this happen?’ “