On Wednesday, Superintendent Christopher Smith announced he’s retiring after five years at Cherry Creek Schools. The news should spark a wider district clean-up — but there’s no indication it will.

Smith’s announcement took no accountability and gave no clear explanation, but it followed a Denver7 investigation that uncovered what current and former employees call a “toxic culture,” with multiple sources speaking in silhouette for fear of retaliation. They pointed to intimidation tactics, including a “crying room.”

Their fears are bolstered by a serious conflict of interest: Smith’s wife, Brenda Smith, is the district’s chief human resource officer. When the board hired Smith in 2021, they dismissed the concern. With his wife reporting to a deputy superintendent, the district insisted there was no conflict.

Yet their relationship, Denver7 reported, has given employees “no place to go if there are any issues.” And there are many issues.

On Tuesday, former board president Jennifer Churchfield forcefully challenged the district. That evening, Smith tendered his retirement to the board in a closed-door executive session.

“He is not resigning; he is retiring,” district parent Lori Gimelshteyn said. “I think that’s very important language. I believe a full investigation needs to be completed on the hostile work environment he created.”

Gimelshteyn founded and leads the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, which regularly receives complaints from faculty and staff alleging mistreatment.

“It’s a disgrace,” said one former district employee, speaking anonymously due to active litigation. “The board is allowing him to retire and keep everything rather than fire him for his behavior. Why retire now if everything you’re doing is ethically, morally and legally correct?”

By retiring three days after Tuesday’s executive session, Smith avoids potential consequences when the board meets Feb. 6. It also shields his wife, Brenda Smith.

“She had to know this stuff was going on with her husband, and she didn’t bring it to the board,” said Christian Caldwell, a former employee-turned community advocate. “Your obligation is not to your husband but to the voters, students and staff of Cherry Creek.”

Let’s be real: One or two people cannot foster a “toxic” work environment in one of Colorado’s largest districts. Smith’s retirement must be where accountability begins. What Cherry Creek Schools does next matters more than his exit.

“If Chris has got to go, Brenda has got to go, too,” Caldwell added, contending Brenda Smith is only staying because she was hired before Smith.

And the HR department she runs has its own problems.

The “crying room” first reported by Denver7 “is a real place,” Gimelshteyn told me. In one instance, she said, employees came out “just bawling their eyes out” over something they “had nothing to do with.”

“There’s a big open space and a couple of glass sliding door rooms,” the anonymous source said. “The middle of the glass is frosted so you can’t see who’s inside. They have tissues in there.”

Caldwell has accompanied employees to such meetings. “People do cry in there,” he said. “Usually, they don’t have an advocate to go to HR with them. You just go in there, thinking they’re on your side, and suddenly they’re putting you on administrative leave, making it seem like you did something bad.”

He recalled accompanying an employee whose school accused her of having a marijuana container next to her car at the school. She was put on leave and called Caldwell for help. An HR partner “tried to railroad her,” he recalled, but he put the kibosh on it.

He managed to get Brenda Smith to join them, and the matter was eventually resolved — but only because the employee had someone to advocate for her.

“If you get brought in there and you’re inexperienced, they will bully you, tag team you, and shut you down,” the source said, echoing Caldwell’s sentiments. “HR will do anything to protect the administration, regardless of whether it’s ethically, morally or legally correct.”

Let’s be clear: This isn’t a personnel issue. It’s a cultural problem. And cultures derive from the top.

Cherry Creek rarely finds itself under the microscope — because they thrive on an antiquated reputation. But it’s no longer the cream of the crop: only 48.2% of K-8 kids read and write at grade level, and just 42.8% meet math proficiency.

This isn’t the district I graduated from in 2008.

Caldwell is progressive; Gimelshteyn is conservative. Both believe the district’s rot is deep and extends to at least 2016. And the prospect of Interim Superintendent Jennifer Perry — Smith’s number two, who was passed over for him five years ago — permanently taking the job troubles everyone I spoke with.

“She’s just as bad as Chris,” Caldwell warned. She lacks essential school-level administrative experience and personability critical to the job, he said.

Gimelshteyn minced no words: Perry is “a bigger problem than Christopher Smith.”

The anonymous source called it “operation as-is,” and they’ll proceed because “they’re insulated.”

No question Cherry Creek is insulated — from scrutiny, from criticism and from reality. And that’s the root of the problem.

Caldwell wants a national superintendent search to identify someone who isn’t “tarnished by the last 10 years.” Gimelshteyn wants an external investigation, independent of the board and “transparent to the community,” with consequences for Smith.

They’re both right. It’s past time the school board treats this like the crisis it is — not a PR issue to sweep under the rug.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.