cherry creek school district
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Cherry Creek School District to pay assistant superintendent $190K to retire amid leadership shakeups
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Cherry Creek School District taxpayers will pay Assistant Superintendent Anthony Poole more than $190,000 to retire at the end of the school year, according to the school district’s separation agreement. Obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act, the agreement stipulates that the Cherry Creek School District will pay him a lump sum of $187,925 under…
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Ex-Cherry Creek superintendent must repay one month’s salary after abrupt resignation
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Former Cherry Creek School District Superintendent Chris Smith must repay one month’s salary for failing to provide the board of education with three-month’s notice of his resignation, The Denver Gazette has learned. The board of education has not waived the requirement, Abbe Smith, a district spokesperson, said in an email. The spokesperson declined to say…
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Cherry Creek school district to pay ex-superintendent $165K after resignation amid toxic workplace claims
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The Cherry Creek School District will pay nearly $165,000 to former Superintendent Chris Smith following his resignation last month amid allegations of a toxic workplace. The board of education announced last week that the district is contractually obligated to pay Smith $119,857.87 in unused sick leave and $44,070 in vacation leave. He abruptly resigned in…
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Cherry Creek orders outside audit, tightens contract oversight amid leadership shakeup
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Amid heightened public scrutiny following recent leadership upheaval, the Cherry Creek School District will launch an independent audit of its internal controls and impose stricter contract approval rules, lowering the dollar threshold for board oversight and requiring additional executive and legal sign-offs on spending. Friday was the fifth time the board has met over the…
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Cherry Creek School District Assistant Superintendent Tony Poole placed on administrative leave
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Cherry Creek School District Assistant Superintendent Tony Poole has been placed on administrative leave, district officials confirmed Wednesday. Lauren Snell, a district spokesperson, declined to say whether Poole’s administrative leave was paid or not. Poole started with the school district in 1989 as a teacher and worked his way up the ranks to assistant superintendent…
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Cherry Creek assistant superintendent to leave full-time post amid district leadership upheaval
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Cherry Creek School District Assistant Superintendent Tony Poole will not return to full-time work at the end of the school year and will instead transition to a limited post-employment arrangement. Ashley Verville, a district spokesperson, said the move was not a signal that Poole is retiring while acknowledging “110s are often a transition into retirement.”…
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Wife of former Cherry Creek superintendent placed on paid administrative leave
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Less than a week after Cherry Creek Schools Superintendent Chris Smith abruptly resigned following allegations of a toxic work environment, his wife, Brenda Smith, has been placed on paid, administrative leave, officials confirmed Tuesday. Brenda Smith is the district’s chief human resource officer, a position she has held since 2019. “As of Monday, February 2,…
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10th Circuit agrees ex-Cherry Creek schools teacher failed to prove discrimination
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The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed last month that the Cherry Creek School District ended the contract of a veteran elementary school teacher because of her performance, not because she expressed discomfort with racial equity trainings. Leslie Shannon, who is Black and Native American, came to Highline Community Elementary School in 2016 after many…
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Judge grants immunity to Cherry Creek schools officials who expelled student over anti-Semitic ‘joke’
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Although the federal appeals court based in Denver decided last year that Cherry Creek School District officials violated the constitutional rights of a student by expelling him for an off-campus social media post, a judge on Friday concluded they could not be sued for their actions after all. Last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals…
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Where are the kids? Colorado school enrollment trends shed light on closure discussions
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As three large metro area school districts grapple with school closures due to declining enrollment, a common question looms: Where did all the children go? To help answer that question, Chalkbeat looked at school enrollment data, county birth rate data and U.S. census data showing the number of children under 18 living in each school…

