Cherry Creek Schools probes $3M in contracts, worldwide journey

Cherry Creek Schools’ ongoing management investigation is concentrating on almost $3 million in contracts that former Superintendent Christopher Smith and his spouse signed with an schooling firm and inspecting whether or not the couple was influenced by paid worldwide journey.

School board President Anne Egan confirmed the investigation is centered on the Smiths’ ties to Education Accelerated after The Denver Post obtained letters and copies of 5 contracts between the district and the agency, together with three signed by the superintendent and Brenda Smith, the district’s human sources officer.

The paperwork and Egan’s assertion reveal the primary particulars behind the Board of Education’s resolution to freeze new contracts and subsequently change the brink wanted for board approval after Christopher Smith unexpectedly resigned in late January, and why Cherry Creek positioned Brenda Smith on paid administrative go away days later.

“We are also looking into allegations of excessive travel expenses billed to the district by Education Accelerated,” Egan stated in a press release. “When those types of issues were brought to our attention, the board moved to freeze certain contracts and travel until we could investigate them fully.”

The investigation, she stated this week, stays ongoing.

Cherry Creek Schools terminated all contracts with Education Accelerated in February due to what workers known as “substantial concerns” with the corporate’s efficiency, in accordance with two letters district officers despatched that month to inform the agency of their resolution.

Those considerations vary from incomplete work to the chance that Education Accelerated — employed to create a trainer residency program — overbilled the district as a lot as $57,520.97 for journey bills, the paperwork present.

The faculty board can also be involved concerning the relationship between the Smiths and David Palumbo, the founder and chairman of Education Accelerated, Egan stated.

“That relationship may have included international travel taken by the Smiths during the contracting process,” she stated.

Tony Leffert, an lawyer representing Christopher and Brenda Smith, stated all the contracts and funds made to Education Accelerated had been accepted by the varsity board.

“I don’t believe any one of them did anything improper,” he stated of the Smiths. “…My understanding is that the board approved the expenditures for that contract and the spending, and other staff were aware of these payments.”

Egan acknowledged that the varsity board accepted “certain Education Accelerated contracts presented to us by Superintendent Chris Smith,” however had no information of the Smiths’ private relationship with the corporate’s founder. Records present the board accepted no less than two Education Accelerated contracts throughout public conferences in 2024.

Those contracts had been a part of the conferences’ consent agenda, which faculty boards usually vote on on the advice of workers and sometimes with out dialogue. Agendas for the conferences confirmed Brenda Smith was the district staffer answerable for the contracts.

Superintendent goes to Brazil

Cherry Creek had no less than 5 contracts with Education Accelerated, the values of which ranged from $41,800 to $2.6 million. The district had paid Education Accelerated almost $2 million as of Jan. 29, paperwork present.

The firm, which seems to be based mostly in Austin, Texas, was employed by the district in 2023 and helped Cherry Creek launch its Aspiring Educator Pathway Program the next 12 months.

That program goals to assist clear up the trainer scarcity by coaching future educators in Cherry Creek faculties whereas they earn bachelor’s levels from the Community College of Aurora. The Colorado State Board of Education accepted this system throughout its most up-to-date assembly in March.

Education Accelerated CEO Alicia Densford stated in a press release to The Post that the corporate stays “committed to working cooperatively with the district.”

“It is a program that was approved by the school board and has been highly successful,” she stated. “We remain confident in the integrity of the work and look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the district to address any questions and ensure the program’s ongoing success.”

Densford didn’t acknowledge in her assertion that the corporate’s contracts with Cherry Creek Schools had been canceled.

It’s unclear how a lot worldwide journey the district is inspecting, however Christopher Smith did fly to Brazil in April 2024 whereas he was superintendent for a two-day convention known as Think Tank 2.0 hosted by Graded — The American School of São Paulo. That journey was not paid for by Cherry Creek Schools.

The Brazilian faculty’s superintendent on the time — Richard Boerner, an affiliate of Palumbo’s who now works for Education Accelerated — invited Smith to take part within the occasion. He informed him the Cherry Creek chief that the varsity may pay for his lodge and flight, together with if he determined to increase his keep by way of the weekend to “enjoy São Paulo,” in accordance with an e mail reviewed by The Post.

Christopher Smith went on the journey and “the sponsors” paid for his lodge bills, together with when he stayed an additional night time, Leffert stated. “They paid for everybody,” he stated. “There’s a whole conference of people.”

It’s not clear whether or not Brenda Smith additionally went on the journey to Brazil.

Palumbo, the co-founder and chairman of Education Accelerated, served as a facilitator of the occasion, the e-mail confirmed. Boerner grew to become the chief innovation officer for Education Accelerated in December 2024 and chief govt officer of TruFit Talent, one other firm that has labored with Cherry Creek Schools, in 2025, in accordance with his LinkedIn web page.

“It was standard practice to invite external participants and cover certain related expenses,” Boerner stated in a press release. “I’m not in a position to speak to or confirm the specific arrangements for any individual attendees as I no longer work there.”

He stated TruFit Talent is “unrelated to these events” when requested by The Post concerning the Brazil convention.

Palumbo, who couldn’t be reached for remark, can also be chairman of TruFit Talent, in accordance with the corporate’s web site.

The faculty board knew about Christopher Smith’s journey to São Paulo, Leffert stated.

“Everybody on the board knows that situation,” he stated. “…The board knew about it and they approved it.”

Leffert declined to supply proof that board members knew concerning the journey.

Egan pushed again on the lawyer’s assertion, saying Christopher Smith didn’t share his calendar with the board, and journeys such because the one to São Paulo aren’t one thing administrators vote on.

“The school board had absolutely no knowledge of that trip,” she stated.

Contract considerations

Christopher and Brenda Smith, who had been married earlier than both labored at Cherry Creek Schools, signed off on the biggest Education Accelerated contracts. The relaxation had been signed by Chief Financial Officer Scott Smith (no relation).

The district employed Brenda Smith as chief human sources officer in 2019. After the varsity board employed Christopher Smith as superintendent in 2021, Brenda Smith started reporting to a deputy superintendent to adjust to the district’s workers conduct coverage, which states that workers might not interact in direct or oblique supervisory relationships with rapid members of the family, in accordance with a 2022 district memo.

Brenda Smith signed an Education Accelerated contract price no less than $368,000 on June 11, 2024, lower than two months after her husband’s journey to Brazil. Christopher Smith then accepted the biggest Education Accelerated contract — price $2.6 million over a number of years — in October 2024, the paperwork confirmed.

Overall, the district would have spent greater than $3 million of taxpayer cash on all the Education Accelerated contracts — excluding journey bills — if they’d not been terminated final month, paperwork present.

But it’s not simply the Brazil convention that has raised purple flags with Cherry Creek officers.

Education Accelerated despatched Brenda Smith invoices that confirmed the corporate routinely exceeded the $5,000 restrict set within the contracts for journey bills. For instance, the agency billed Cherry Creek Schools for greater than $33,779.07 in July 2024 for journey.

The journey bills incurred by Education Accelerated workers had been purported to be pre-approved by Cherry Creek, in accordance with the contract’s phrases.

Leffert, the Smiths’ lawyer, stated contract phrases can change, together with if extra journey is required than mandatory. “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t approved by the school board,” he stated.

The firm additionally despatched Brenda Smith an bill dated March 31, 2024, that requested the district reimburse the corporate for journey bills it stated had been incurred in April, the next month. The invoice totaled $3,156.13 to cowl airfare, meals, inns and different bills for Palumbo and Densford to return to metro Denver, in accordance with the bill.

But Education Accelerated despatched one other invoice — this time totaling $7,176.72 — to Brenda Smith on May 31, 2024, for what it stated had been additionally journey bills incurred in April. It wasn’t clear from the doc whether or not the bills had been along with the March 31 bill that billed Cherry Creek for April journey.

The journey invoices contained inconsistencies, equivalent to bills for journey exterior of Colorado, which led the district to cancel the contracts and ask Education Accelerated to supply documentation and data to substantiate fees and companies, in accordance with a Feb. 24 letter obtained by The Post.

Education Accelerated billed Cherry Creek $405.12 for Palumbo to hire a automobile in Virginia Beach in June 2024. The firm additionally billed the district $5,613.09 for a lodge in San Francisco that very same month, in addition to $1,803.71 for one more automobile rental in Virginia, invoices present.

“The district has not located documentation clearly authorizing or approving work performed in these jurisdictions,” basic counsel Sonja McKenzie and Smith, the chief monetary officer, wrote within the Feb. 24 letter. “Absent such documentation, the associated costs are presumptively unauthorized.”

They requested Education Accelerated to supply the district with itemized invoices and receipts, together with for meals, leisure, inns, Airbnb stays and rental automobiles by March 4, in accordance with the letter. It’s not clear whether or not Education Accelerated responded by that deadline.

“We are happy to work with the district as they evaluate the program and our work,” Densford stated in her assertion. “All invoices submitted were proper and consistent with the terms of the program as approved by board resolution, and we have provided the district with extensive documentation supporting the same.”

Education Accelerated additionally despatched a $20,000 bill for work TruFit Talent did associated to the aspiring educator program in December 2024, paperwork confirmed.

But Boerner stated TruFit Talent didn’t obtain compensation from the district.

The termination of Education Accelerated’s contract applies to TruFit Talent in addition to all third-party contractors s engaged on behalf of the corporate, in accordance with Cherry Creek’s Feb. 12 letter.

School board’s adjustments to contract processes

It’s commonplace for a superintendent or human sources director to approve contracts for companies, stated Denver Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Chuck Carpenter. Such agreements could make it to their desks in the event that they attain a sure value threshold or, within the case of a human sources director, pertain to their division.

For instance, Denver Public Schools has a coverage that states the superintendent approves contracts price greater than $500,000 and the varsity board approves contracts above $1 million.

“We’re dealing with public money, so it’s important that folks can defend the purchases as being in the best interest of kids,” Carpenter stated.

Cherry Creek, the state’s fourth-largest Okay-12 faculty district, enrolls 51,844 college students and operates beneath a $840 million price range.

It’s widespread for contracts to set a restrict, equivalent to $5,000, for journey bills, however distributors ought to notify districts in the event that they plan to go over both the journey price range or the quantity of the contract, Carpenter stated.

A vendor mustn’t invoice a district greater than the restrict agreed upon within the contract, and in a situation the place a vendor believes they will go over price range, DPS reopens the district’s contract approval course of, he stated.

“Going over that amount is essentially a contract, too,” he stated. “It’s not OK to go over without having that reapproval process.”

Vendors don’t usually overspend on journey bills as a result of, generally, these prices are overestimated to forestall such a situation, Carpenter stated.

Both of the contracts signed by the Smiths after the Brazil journey had been giant sufficient that in addition they needed to be accepted by the varsity board.