An outside investigation released this week found that Cherry Creek Schools didn’t properly vet contracts and highlighted more questionable spending by an education firm that has come under scrutiny in recent months.
The inquiry by attorneys at Caplan & Earnest, released Monday, says former Superintendent Christopher Smith and his wife, Brenda Smith, the districtap human resources director, “more likely than not” violated board policy in their dealings with Education Accelerated and spent district money on personal travel costs.
ճ provided new details on the Smiths’ travel to conferences, with the investigation finding that the couple charged Cherry Creek for costs of events they did not attend or only partially attended.
The investigation also found that the Smiths “had a close personal relationship with EA’s principal, David Palumbo, and further that the Smiths actively discouraged criticism of EA by district employees.”
Cherry Creek Schools hired Education Accelerated in 2023 to help the district create a teacher residency program called the Aspiring Educator Pathway.
Tony Leffert, an attorney for the Smiths, declined to comment for this story.
The Denver Post reported on the investigation report’s major findings in a story Monday. Here are other takeaways from the report:
Contracts should get a legal review — but don’t always
All district contracts requiring a signature are supposed to be reviewed and approved by Cherry Creek Schools’ legal department before an employee signs off on the document, according to district policy.
The investigation found that employees didn’t always follow that policy, with one person telling the outside attorneys the district had a history of not getting a legal review of contracts because “they do not want to be told no.”
“They described, prior to October 2025, a culture among district employees of asking for forgiveness after the fact rather than asking for permission before,” the attorneys wrote. The version of the report released by the district had the names of interviewed employees redacted.
Report questions more expenses by Education Accelerated
For months now, Cherry Creek has investigated reimbursements billed to the district by Education Accelerated, with a focus on whether the company overbilled the district for monthly travel expenses and sought reimbursement for alcohol purchases.
Caplan & Earnest found that itap “more likely than not” that Education Accelerated sought reimbursements for alcohol at least twice, and Brenda Smith approved the invoices. Cherry Creek’s policy prohibits employees from spending district money on alcohol.
An Education Accelerated employee sought reimbursement for two tickets to a game on July 20, 2025, totaling $169.50, according to the report. And in 2024, a company employee rented a car for $1,803.71 and a home rental on Airbnb for $5,613.09, which was paid for by Cherry Creek Schools. The expenses were made during a multiweek summer institute event organized by the company, the investigation found.
Cherry Creek employees told attorneys that the Education Accelerated staffer rented the car and the Airbnb because he was moving from Virginia to Texas and had sold his car. He brought his family with him to Denver for the summer institute, according to the report.
All of the expenses were approved by Brenda Smith, the report stated.
A request for comment was not returned by Palumbo and Education Accelerated CEO Alicia Densford.
Smiths defended EA to district employees
Cherry Creek employees spoke highly of the teacher residency program created with Education Accelerated, but they also said the Smiths were “highly defensive regarding Mr. Palumbo,” the report says.
For example, it says, Brenda Smith “screamed” at employees when they questioned Education Accelerated’s expenses with the HR director. Later, she sent a text message to employees that said Education Accelerated was “an ethical company” and told them not to spread misinformation, according to the report.
One employee told attorneys that after Christopher Smith resigned in January, the former superintendent told the person: “I know how you feel, but I need you to say that Education Accelerated was the best thing that ever happened to this district and the Aspiring Educator Pathway would not have happened without them.”
The report says the attorneys confirmed that the employee, who had criticized the company, shared details of the conversation with Smith with a coworker at the time.
Personal trips to Costa Rica, other places
Nearly every person interviewed in the investigation told Caplan & Earnest attorneys that the Smiths had a personal relationship with Palumbo, whom the couple had met on a cruise in 2022.
Brenda Smith downplayed the relationship in her interview with the attorneys, who wrote that they found other witnesses’ credibility “outweighed” the HR director’s characterization of the relationship.
Cherry Creek employees told the attorneys that Palumbo stayed at the Smiths’ house when he was in town and that the couple’s children called him “Uncle David,” according to the report. The Smiths also took personal vacations with Palumbo to Costa Rica and stayed with him in Texas.
Trips to Guatemala, Brazil didn’t violate policy
The Denver Post reported Sunday that the Smiths accepted at least two international trips paid for by international schools with ties to Education Accelerated. The couple accepted the trips before and after they approved nearly $3 million worth of contracts with the company.
When the Smiths accepted the trips to Guatemala and Brazil, they also accepted an extra night of accommodation in each and spent their extra days in the countries sightseeing, Caplan & Earnest found.
But the investigation found that the trips did not violate board policy because Cherry Creek places few restrictions on the gifts the superintendent can accept. However, ethics experts told The Post that the trips appeared to violate that prohibits government employees from receiving gifts that could influence their decision-making.
