[1] Smith served as Executive Director of Open Meadows School in Portland, Oregon from 1982 to 2005.

[1] Smith was hired as Superintendent of Portland Public Schools in 2007, to replace Vicki Phillips.

Despite that, in October 2010, Smith received a highly positive report on her first three years, allowing her to continue her career as Superintendent.

[4] In March 2016, Smith announced a number of changes to school boundaries, due to concerns of overcrowding.

Her announcement came shortly after a report had been released on Portland Public Schools' lead testing after the school board released a damning report showing how Portland Public Schools dropped the ball on testing water for lead, fixing problems that were found and notifying the public of test results.