Christopher and Brenda Smith arrived in the historic Guatemalan city of Antigua on the first day of November.
The then- superintendent and his wife, the districtap chief human resources officer, extended a work trip and joined other guests of a conference in visiting the centuries old-city during the peak Halloween season. The excursion to the city, which is known for its Baroque architecture, cobbled streets and surrounding volcanoes, was arranged and paid for by the American School of Guatemala, which also footed the bill for the Smiths’ entire trip to the conference in nearby Guatemala City.
“We would be happy to go to Antigua,” Brenda Smith wrote in an email to school officials when asked if she and her husband consented to the trip. “It sounds like a beautiful place!”
But the international school has a connection that ethics experts say raises questions about it paying for the Smiths’ trip: The school is a client of , whose executives, David Palumbo and Richard Boerner, ran the conference that week.
The businessmen already knew the Smiths well. The couple had signed off on nearly $3 million worth of contracts a year earlier, when Cherry Creek Schools hired Education Accelerated to help the district create a teacher residency program.
The school paid at least $2,149 for both Christopher and Brenda Smith to travel to Guatemala, including for their plane tickets and hotel rooms, according to emails and other documents obtained by The Denver Post via a request.
The Smiths’ travel to Guatemala, which has not been reported before, was one of at least two paid international trips the couple accepted after Cherry Creek Schools began working with Education Accelerated three years ago. Though they had traveled on multiple work trips involving Palumbo and Boerner, including domestically, their journey to Guatemala and another trip to Brazil are notable because — unlike the others — they were paid for by international schools tied to Education Accelerated.
The travel and other connections between the Smiths and the company shed light on how Colorado’s fourth-largest school district became embroiled in a leadership scandal that former Cherry Creek employees say was enabled by the school board’s lax oversight of the superintendent.
The district, The Post found, sets few restrictions on the gifts the superintendent can accept, allowing its top official to receive payment for travel, conferences, social events and other honoraria.
The Post reviewed hundreds of pages of emails, calendar items, plane tickets, hotel reservations, social media posts and other documents that shed light on the Smiths’ travel and ties to Education Accelerated — including to Palumbo, the company’s chairman, and Boerner, the chief innovation officer.
The relationship between the Smiths, Palumbo and Boerner appears to have gone beyond a business connection, with emails suggesting personal travel between the couple and the executives during the months Cherry Creek Schools awarded contracts to Education Accelerated.
“It got to the point where it is the tail wagging the dog, because the superintendent didn’t have a lot of check and balance with the board,” said Jennifer Churchfield, a former Cherry Creek school board member who has called for more oversight of the superintendent in recent months.
As the ties between Education Accelerated and Cherry Creek Schools grew, Palumbo also began seeking business with a second metro-Denver school district, emails show. eventually hired the firm, along with , another company run by Palumbo and Boerner.
In Cherry Creek, the acceptance of the paid trips to Guatemala and Brazil by Christopher and Brenda Smith appear to have violated that prohibits government employees from receiving a “gift of substantial value” that could influence their decision-making, ethics experts told The Post.
K-12 school districts, which receive billions of dollars of taxpayer money statewide, are largely left to govern themselves when it comes to ethical concerns, such as gifts, paid travel and other potential conflicts of interest.
Neither the nor the state’s has the ability to step in. Instead, the responsibility falls on local school boards, unless the violation is severe enough to involve law enforcement, experts said.
“The remedies there are political if (school boards) fail to do their due diligence in policing their own,” said Don Mayer, a professor of the practice of business ethics and legal studies at the University of Denver.
An attorney for Christopher and Brenda Smith pushed back on assertions that the Smiths’ travel to Guatemala was an ethical violation and denied that the paid trips influenced the couple’s decision to award Education Accelerated contracts.
“Absolutely not,” said the attorney, Tony Leffert.
He defended the Smiths’ interactions with Palumbo and Boerner, saying they were reflective of how vendors and districts operate in the education industry.
“This is how people do business,” Leffert said. “Thatap not a conflict of interest.”
The marriage of the top Cherry Creek officials had attracted some notice within the district. Christopher and Brenda Smith were married before either worked in the central office. Brenda Smith, who was first hired in 2019, began reporting to a deputy superintendent after the board hired her husband two years later, according to a 2022 district memo.
Christopher Smith resigned in January, just as the district was starting to face public scrutiny of his leadership. Neither he nor the school board has publicly given a reason for his departure. In early February, Brenda Smith was placed on paid administrative leave.
In the wake of the former superintendent’s departure, the district hired an outside law firm, , to investigate business travel expenses and vendor contracts approved by Christopher and Brenda Smith.
The investigation report hasn’t been released. But the firm found that “a preponderance of the evidence makes it more likely than not that Brenda Smith, and her husband former Superintendent Chris Smith, violated district policy in regard to their travel expenses and relationships with particular vendors,” according to a source briefed on the report who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the document hadn’t been made public.
The Board of Education and Interim Superintendent Jennifer Perry announced Friday, as The Post was preparing to publish this story, that the district had terminated Brenda Smith’s employment because of the investigation’s findings.
“The board did not have access to Chris Smith’s calendar and we were not aware of any trips that were paid for by vendors with contracts with the district,” Cherry Creek board President Anne Egan said in a statement. “Additionally, the terms of Chris Smith’s contract required him to notify the board in writing of all travel. That did not occur.”
The school board also launched an investigation into whether Education Accelerated overbilled the district for monthly travel costs and other reimbursements. Cherry Creek has since terminated any outstanding contracts with the company.
Palumbo, Boerner and Education Accelerated CEO Alicia Densford did not respond to multiple requests for comment by The Post in recent weeks, including a list of detailed questions.
International travel raises questions
The Smiths arrived in Guatemala City on a Monday in late October. They spent seven days in the country, arriving two days before the conference and leaving two days after, according to plane tickets and itineraries reviewed by The Post.
Brenda Smith’s schedule showed she expected to spend the second day of the trip meeting with administrators of the , including the finance and HR directors. Christopher Smith was set to get a campus tour and other activities, documents showed.
The American School of Guatemala invited the Smiths to the country for a seminar of sorts that Education Accelerated refers to as a “think tank.” The event focused on apprenticeships, preparing students for postsecondary education and workforce readiness, said former board member Terry Bates.
“The hosting campus includes both a high school and a community college model, with pathways similar to those being developed in Cherry Creek,” Bates, who resigned April 24, said in an May 12 email. “The school specifically sought Cherry Creek’s guidance on building partnerships and advancing these types of programs.”
Cherry Creek Schools’ partnership with Education Accelerated developed the districtap Aspiring Educator Pathway, which gives people an alternative way to obtain a teachers license by having schools train participants in their own classrooms while the students earn a bachelor’s degree from the .
The Guatemala event began on the third day of the Smiths’ trip to the country and lasted three days, itineraries showed. The Smiths went to Antigua on the Saturday after the event.
If employees decide to stay any extra days while on a work trip, they should pay for that additional time themselves, said Jane Feldman, an ethics consultant who previously was executive director of Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission. She is also chair of the .
“Thatap a gift,” she said. “It takes it out of ‘this is a conference that is relevant to your job’ and puts it in the boondoggle category.”
Documents do not detail what the couple did while they were in Antigua, but they show the American School of Guatemala booked the educators a room at the five-star hotel. The room cost $257 for the night, according to the reservation.
The Smiths traveled on a bus to Antigua with other guests of the think tank, but they did not stay overnight, said Leffert, their attorney, adding that the couple went back to Guatemala City. He did not know who paid for their accommodation for their final night.
Leffert provided an email to The Post from the school, dated May 13, that confirmed the Smiths did not stay at the hotel in Antigua. (The school did not respond to the newspaper’s request for an interview.)
“They had a flight to catch out the next morning, so they did not stay there,” he said.
The Guatemala trip was the second time in two years that the Smiths traveled internationally to attend a “think tank” event facilitated by Palumbo.
The Post reported in March that Christopher Smith traveled to Brazil in April 2024 for a think tank put on by Palumbo and paid for by , which Boerner was superintendent of at the time.
Ahead of the Brazil trip, Boerner emailed Christopher Smith and told him the school could pay for his travel expenses, including if he decided to extend his stay through the weekend to “enjoy São Paulo.”
Brenda Smith also attended the conference in Brazil, the Post found. The international school paid for her trip, Leffert said.
The Guatemala and Brazil trips posed potential ethical violations because they involved foreign travel and the acceptance of payment for that travel by a client of a company that does business with Cherry Creek Schools, ethics experts said.
“There seems to be a likely conflict of interest here; public officials have a duty to the public not to be influenced by any personal benefits a supplier might offer,” said Mayer, the DU professor.
The think tank events appear regularly in the Smiths’ and Cherry Creek Schools’ history with Palumbo, Boerner and Education Accelerated. The district hosted at least one of the events, The Post found.
The think tanks bring together educators, administrators and other “thought leaders” to build a community and consider “what could be, what should be, and boldly, what will be,” Palumbo and Boerner wrote in a.
“The Think Tank concept acknowledges that education’s most complex challenges need thought space,” Palumbo and Boerner wrote. “As the world grows more complex and tomorrow’s careers are uncertain, relevance for schools means embracing characteristics such as adaptivity and agility and pushing themselves to be forward-thinking.”
In February 2025, Palumbo and Boerner organized at an conference in Washington, D.C., which was also attended by Christopher and Brenda Smith.
Cherry Creek Schools paid at least $2,992 for the couple to attend the conference, including their hotel, meals and airfare, expenditures reviewed by The Post show.
Bates defended the Smiths’ travel, which he said was not connected to any contract discussions with Education Accelerated. School board members, Bates said, were also aware of the trip and district staff stayed in touch with the Smiths when they were in Guatemala.
“It is also important to note that this type of travel is consistent with common practice among school district leaders, both within Cherry Creek and across the country,” Bates said. “Ongoing engagement with innovative programs and global peers is an important part of maintaining relevance and effectiveness in a rapidly evolving educational landscape.”
Bates, who was elected in November, resigned last month during a meeting in which the board revealed he made racist remarks.
“Terry Bates and his wife, Kelly, who was on the board from 2017-2025, are suggesting they had information that other board members did not,” Egan, the school board president, said in a statement. “That raises questions about Mr. Bates’ sources and the timing of these comments.”
Other travel, connections with company
By the time Christopher and Brenda Smith landed in Guatemala, they had known Palumbo for roughly three years.
The pair met the businessman on a cruise in the fall of 2022 — a story both the Smiths and Palumbo told Cherry Creek employees after Education Accelerated began working with the district, former staff members told The Post.
“There was definitely a personal relationship there,” said Jill Schneider, a former Cherry Creek Schools HR employee.
Months after the cruise, Cherry Creek Schools hired Education Accelerated to conduct a study on the feasibility of a teacher residency program. It was the first of at least five deals between the district and the company, which, if fully realized, would have paid Education Accelerated more than $3 million through 2028.
After the district’s Aspiring Educator Pathway was launched, Christopher Smith extolled its promise.
“I do believe this is going to change the way we educate teachers to be teachers across the country,” he told The Post for a story on the program in 2024.
On June 11 of that same year, Brenda Smith had signed the first of two Education Accelerated contracts that received school board approval. The deal was for $368,000 and continued the work the district and company began a year earlier.
Two weeks later, Palumbo emailed Christopher and Brenda Smith and invited them to Pittsburgh to watch the Steelers play in his hometown in October of that year, emails show. One of the Smiths’ sons played soccer for the University of Denver, and the team played in Pittsburgh the night after the Steelers challenged the Cowboys in that game.
“We could do a two fer,” Palumbo wrote to the couple.
When asked about the email exchange, Leffert said Palumbo never showed up to the soccer game.“They did business together and they were friendly,” he said.
On a Thursday morning in October 2024, Boerner emailed Christopher and Brenda Smith and told them about a new company, TruFit Talent, that he was forming with friends as a “new ‘way’ to consider recruitment.” (Palumbo is chairman of the company, according to TruFitap website.)
Boerner included a link to a podcast about TruFit in his email, which was sent four days after the Steelers game in October 2024.
“Itap only 10 mins, so hopefully you can sneak a few mins to listen. Perhaps on the plane…LOL,” the now-CEO of TruFit Talent wrote. “Anyways, the company we are forming is called TruFit Talent. You guys are so well positioned to offer your thoughts and frankly as things get rolling I was hoping, Brenda, you might be willing to sit on our advisory board for our startup.”
Brenda Smith responded to Boerner a few hours later.
“Of course! I will listen to it today!” she said. “We are developing our comprehensive learning plan which starts with recruitment so I’m sure I’ll learn more great information to incorporate into Creek! See you in two days!”
“Awesome, thanks Brenda!” Boerner emailed back. “See ya’ beachside soon :)”
Documents reviewed by The Post do not show where the Smiths traveled after the email exchange with Boerner. Their calendars and Cherry Creek Schools’ travel records don’t show either travel with Boener that weekend or a work trip.
Both Boerner and Leffert have denied that Brenda Smith served on TruFitap advisory board.
Twelve days after Boerner and Brenda Smith’s email exchange, Christopher Smith approved Education Accelerated’s largest contract, a multiyear deal worth $2.6 million.
Feldman, the ethics expert, said Christopher and Brenda Smith should have disclosed their relationship with Palumbo and Boerner to the school board because the connection could have altered the directors’ decision to rubber-stamp the contracts approved in June and October of 2024.
“Frankly, they shouldn’t have been involved at all in awarding the contract,” she said of the Smiths. “… If this was a no-bid contract, itap inappropriate and it appears to be illegal.”
The contracts, in fact, did not undergo a bidding process, which would have made Education Accelerated compete against other firms for the job. Cherry Creek Schools spokeswoman Abbe Smith said the work was considered professional services, a category that doesn’t require a competitive process.
But she added: “Former Superintendent Smith administered the contract and it did not run through the typical procurement or legal review process.”
No-bid contracts need rigorous vetting so school districts know what they are getting in the deal, said Mayer, the DU professor.
The two contracts approved by the board in 2024 were part of board meetings’ consent agendas, which directors usually vote on at the recommendation of staff and without discussion.
Churchfield, the former board member, said the contracts for Education Accelerated, especially the multiyear deal for $2.6 million, should never have been part of the consent agenda. Instead, she said, district staff should have singled out the proposal so that directors could discuss the contract.
“If the board didn’t necessarily catch that, it should have been Chris’s responsibility to highlight that and have a conversation,” Chruchfield said. “… These types of things were massive lapses in how business should be conducted at Cherry Creek.”
Lawmaker: ‘I would be mortified’ as a taxpayer
The Smiths’ travel to Brazil occurred after Cherry Creek awarded smaller contracts to Education Accelerated. The Smiths approved the two largest contracts, which were worth about $3 million combined, after the trip, documents show.
Cherry Creek Schools’ work with the company was well-cemented by the time the Smiths traveled to Guatemala last year. The district also awarded a $350,000 contract — which has since been terminated — to EA FLGA Campus Partners LLC in July 2025, three months before the Guatemala trip.
That entity has some ties to Education Accelerated. is a real estate developer based in Washington, D.C. The firm’s Executive Vice President Fred Greene III, is an operating partner with Education Accelerated, according to the company’s website.
The district hired FLGA as part of a plan to potentially make employee housing part of the teacher residency program, documents showed.
The company’s work was in the early stages, looking at feasibility, land use considerations and other planning, when the contract ended, Greene said in an email.
“As is common with initiatives of this nature, the work was iterative and exploratory and had not advanced to project authorization, final design or implementation,” he said.
He added: “Neither I individually nor FLGA as an entity is a formal partner of Education Accelerated. We did however collaborate as it related to work at CCSD surrounding the exploration of a district workforce housing initiative.”
Ethics experts said the Smiths’ travel and the Education Accelerated contracts raise questions because state law prohibits local government employees, including those at K-12 districts, from accepting a gift, which “would tend improperly to influence a reasonable person in his position to depart from the faithful and impartial discharge of public duties …”
Local officials are also “discouraged” from accepting a gift after they have already rewarded a person with an official action, such as a contract, according to state law.
But there’s a gap between the statute and the ability to enforce the law when it comes to K-12 districts. School systems don’t fall under the purview of the state Independent Ethics Commission, which places on the value of gifts that government officials might receive, such as paid travel.
The commission doesn’t oversee districts because the state constitution says jurisdiction applies only to municipalities and counties, said Dino Ioannides, the executive director of the commission.
State Rep. Tammy Story has tried repeatedly to pass legislation that would place K-12 school districts under the ethics commission’s purview. Had she been successful, residents could have filed a complaint with the commission against Cherry Creek Schools over the Smiths’ ties with Education Accelerated and the districtap contracts with the company, she said.
“If I was a taxpayer in Cherry Creek, I would be mortified that public tax dollars were being used in this way,” Story said. “That just seems like a significant conflict of interest.”
Oversight of the superintendent and employees falls to the local school board since the commission doesn’t have jurisdiction, ethics experts said.
Cherry Creek Schools has its own , which is heavily influenced by state law. Still, it allows the superintendent to accept payment for travel to conferences, for social functions and for speeches.
By comparison, , the state’s largest district, explicitly prohibits employees, including Superintendent Alex Marrero, from accepting gifts of value from companies and organizations that conduct business with the district.
“It surprises me that a large district wouldn’t have pretty strict (policies),” Feldman said.
A $15,000 a month retainer fee
In June 2024, Palumbo emailed a superintendent at a neighboring school district to let him know he was in town.
He was persistently recruiting Aurora Public Schools’ business, including proposing a possible $15,000 monthly retainer to become a consultant to Superintendent Michael Giles, documents showed. Palumbo also asked Giles to meet in person when he was already in town meeting with staff at Cherry Creek Schools — which would later reimburse the businessman for those trips to the Denver metro, documents showed.
Itap unclear if Giles, who previously worked at Cherry Creek Schools, ever hired Palumbo on a monthly retainer. APS did sign a $300,000 memorandum of understanding with Education Accelerated last year that ended in August. The district also worked with TruFit Talent until January.
The company helped APS with leadership development and in its hiring of the district’s chief information and technology officer and its talent acquisition coordinator, APS spokesman Corey Christiansen said in a statement.
“Education Accelerated and TruFit provided strong work and served as thoughtful partners as we transitioned new leaders into our school district,” Christiansen added.
As recently as April 7, Education Accelerated featured APS prominently on the company’s website. But the company has since deleted all but one mention of the district.
