Los Angeles Unified School District’s governing board is set to meet in a closed session Thursday to discuss Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, a day after the FBI served search warrants at his home and at the district’s headquarters, according to the district and federal confirmation reported by the Associated Press.
The district said in a Wednesday statement that it was “cooperating with the investigation” and that it “do[es] not have further information at this time.” The board’s published calendar included a special afternoon meeting to discuss Carvalho, but it did not provide additional details about the scope of the closed-session discussion.
Federal authorities have not provided details about the nature of the investigation involving the district, which is the nation’s second-largest school district. The FBI also searched a third location near Miami, where Carvalho previously led the public schools.
A report by the Miami Herald identified a Florida home searched by the FBI as belonging to Debra Kerr, who previously worked with AllHere, an education technology company that had a contract with Los Angeles schools before it collapsed. The same reporting noted that AllHere’s leader was later indicted for fraud.
In 2024, Carvalho publicly promoted a deal with AllHere for an AI chatbot named “Ed” intended to help students, AP reported. The district later dropped its dealings with AllHere about three months after the technology was unveiled and after it paid the company $3 million, and AllHere subsequently collapsed into bankruptcy.
After the collapse, AllHere founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft, according to the Associated Press report. Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, the Associated Press said, citing the Los Angeles Times, and Carvalho also said after Smith-Griffin’s indictment that he would appoint a task force to examine what went wrong with the Los Angeles school district’s project, though the Associated Press said there were no public announcements about it afterward.
Kerr, described as an education technology salesperson who connects companies with schools, told The 74 that she was never paid her $630,000 commission for her work in closing the AllHere deal with the Los Angeles district, AP reported. The Associated Press said it was unable to reach Kerr for comment.
Over the past five years in Los Angeles, Carvalho received praise for improvements to academic performance, AP reported, and he received similar recognition while overseeing Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In 2014, the national superintendents association named him Superintendent of the Year, AP said, and Spain knighted him in 2021 for work expanding Spanish-language programs for Miami-Dade County schools.
Carvalho’s arrival in California also came during a period in which Los Angeles faced continued effects of the pandemic, including learning losses and declining enrollment, even as the district had funding from state and federal COVID-19 relief efforts. AP reported that Carvalho previously sparred with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over an order that schools not require masks during the pandemic, and later became a harsh critic of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown following raids in Los Angeles last year.
The FBI’s Miami office confirmed that agents searched a residence in Southwest Ranches, located in Broward County west of Fort Lauderdale, on Wednesday morning, AP reported. The Miami-Dade school system said it was aware of the investigation involving Carvalho but had no comment at this time.