placed chief human resources officer Brenda Smith on leave this week without explanation, a decision that comes a week after her husband, former Superintendent Christopher Smith, resigned.
The Cherry Creek Board of Education held a closed meeting Tuesday to discuss Christopher Smith’s employment, retirement and contract, as well as district policies related to conflicts of interest, according to the agenda.
But district spokeswoman Ashley Verville repeatedly declined to say why the school board plans to review the district’s contract and travel policies following Smith’s departure, including during a scheduled public meeting Friday.
“Clearly, there were some questions that arose out of all of that,” she said.
School board President Anne Egan said before Tuesday’s meeting that both the district and Christopher Smith have “obtained legal counsel,” but she did not specify the reason.
The district placed Brenda Smith on administrative leave Monday, Cherry Creek senior counsel Sonja McKenzie said before Tuesday morning’s school board meeting. She did not say why and declined to comment further, citing personnel matters.
Christopher Smith resigned more than a year before his contract with Cherry Creek Schools was set to expire in June 2027. He earned a base salary of $332,601.15. Brenda Smith’s base salary is $232,142.40, Verville said in an email.
Verville said Christopher Smith told the school board last week that he would send directors a resignation letter on Friday, but, as of Tuesday, the district had not yet received a letter.
Egan and board Vice President Angela Garland sent a letter to Christopher Smith on Monday, stating that they had accepted his resignation, which he tendered during a board meeting last week, according to a copy of the document reviewed by The Denver Post.
Christopher Smith’s resignation and the district’s decision to place Brenda Smith on leave about Cherry Creek employees who alleged the former superintendent’s marriage to the human resources director affected the work culture at the district.
The Smiths were married before either began working at Cherry Creek Schools. Brenda Smith was hired in 2019, two years before her husband was named superintendent.
After Christopher Smith was hired to lead the district, Brenda Smith began reporting to Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Perry — who is now serving as interim superintendent — to comply with the district’s staff conduct policy, which says employees may not engage in a direct or indirect supervisory relationship with an immediate family member, according to a 2022 district memo.
The school board is expected to meet Friday morning to discuss the next steps for replacing the superintendent, as well as to review the district’s policies on contract review and travel.
Last week, before the Cherry Creek directors met with Christopher Smith, Egan said the board had frozen all administrator travel for six months. District officials have repeatedly declined to say why the board froze travel when asked by The Post.
Travel expenditures obtained by The Post via a public records request showed that Christopher Smith and Brenda Smith spent $23,499.31 and $38,492.48, respectively, on travel — including airfare, food, hotels and parking — during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years.
Most of the expenses were related to the pair’s trips to conferences in places such as New York City, Chicago and Nashville. At times, Christopher and Brenda Smith attended the same conferences, including one held by the Labor and Employment Relations Association in June 2024.
Brenda Smith’s expenditures were notable when compared to those of the chief human resources officer at , the state’s largest K-12 system. Edwin Hudson, DPS’s chief of talent, spent a total of $13,385 — less than half of what Brenda Smith spent — on travel during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years, DPS spokesman Bill Good said.
DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero spent almost $31,297 on travel during the same two-year period, Good said.
The travel expenses are small when compared to both DPS’s and Cherry Creek Schools’ overall budgets. DPS, which has 89,210 students, has a roughly $1.5 billion budget, while Cherry Creek Schools has an $840 million budget.
Cherry Creek Schools is the fourth-largest K-12 system in the state, with 51,844 students, according to state data.
