Auburn School District Superintendent Dr. Dennis Kip Herren tendered his letter of resignation to the Auburn School District Board of Directors on Monday night.

Herren announced his surprise resignation to a larger audience late Tuesday afternoon in a district-wide email.

“Last night, I submitted my letter of resignation to retire, effective July 1, 2015,” Herren wrote. “The Auburn School District is blessed with an incredible, dedicated staff and you have inspired me every day. I wish to thank you for your belief and support in my leadership as superintendent the last seven years. It has been the most rewarding and productive period of my 41 years in public education.

“When I look back on my 36 years in the Auburn School District, from classroom teacher to superintendent, I am grateful for all the opportunities that have been afforded me. … My wife and I look forward to our retirement years with eight beautiful grandchildren in a community that we love,” Herren wrote.’

The district could fill Herren’s position by promoting from within or it could open up the process as it does when it hires a teacher or principal. Vicki Alonzo, public information officer for the Auburn School District, said the school board will meet in a special executive session Saturday.

There is no mandatory retirement age for the office of superintendent.

The Auburn School District’s board of directors in 2008 chose Herren, then deputy superintendent, to succeed retiring Superintendent Linda Cowan.

Herren came to Auburn High School in 1979 from East Wenatchee Junior High School, and for the next 10 years taught economics, history and physical education there. In 1989, he became Auburn High School’s dean of students. He served as the school’s assistant principal from 1990 to 1992, and as its principal from 1992 to 1997.

Herren earned his doctorate in education from Seattle University in 1992.

From 1997 to 2001 Herren was assistant superintendent of the district. In 2001, he was named deputy superintendent, with overall responsibility for curriculum instruction and assessment and for supervision over principals.

A childhood polio victim, Herren wrestled in high school in California and at San Francisco State University. He was head wrestling coach at Auburn for 13 years, and his teams finished in the state’s top 10 nine times in his tenure. He was elected AAA Coach of the Year in 1986.

Among the signal accomplishments of his eight-year tenure as superintendent was leading the successful drive to pass the $110 million measure to build a new Auburn High School, which opened last September.

In November 2014, the Washington Association of School Administrators named him the Washington State Superintendent of the Year. The program recognizes the outstanding leadership of active, front-line superintendents and pays tribute to the men and women who lead the state’s public schools.

Under Herren’s watch, the Auburn School District last year won the Road Map Collective Impact award for closing achievement gaps. Between 2011 and 2014, Auburn schools won 52 individual Washington State Achievement Awards owing to implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLC), a teacher leader academy, distributed leadership, data analysis for continuous improvement, standards-based teaching and reciprocal accountability for learning and systems innovation.

“Auburn is blessed to have Dr. Herren as our superintendent, due to his focus on kids, staff and the Auburn School District patrons,” Ray Vefik, then president of the Auburn School District Board of Directors, said at the time. “He embodies advocacy, role modeling, leadership, integrity, a hard-working attitude and is not afraid to talk about change.”