Carvalho was placed on paid leave Friday, two days after the FBI served search warrants at his home and at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, according to the Associated Press. The investigation’s subject was not disclosed publicly, and federal authorities have not accused Carvalho of wrongdoing, the report said.

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education unanimously voted to put Carvalho on leave. The board said the decision was intended to minimize disruption to the district’s mission of teaching students, following two days of deliberation behind closed doors, the AP reported.

Under the board’s action, Andres Chait, the district’s chief of school operations, was named acting superintendent. Chait said the district’s “focus remains clear: to ensure stability, continuity, and strong leadership for our students, families, and employees,” according to a statement included in the AP report.

The AP reported that Carvalho has not responded to a request for comment. It also said the FBI searched a third location near Miami, and that the Miami Herald reported the Florida property belonged to Debra Kerr, who previously worked with AllHere.

The AP said Kerr had ties to Carvalho from when he oversaw the Florida district, and that her son, who worked for AllHere, pitched an AI chatbot project to Los Angeles school leaders after Carvalho took the helm in California. In 2024, the AP reported, Carvalho heavily touted a deal with AllHere for an AI chatbot named “Ed” designed to help students.

According to the report, the district paid the company $3 million after unveiling the technology, then dropped its dealings with AllHere about three months later as the company collapsed into bankruptcy. Months later, founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft, the AP said.

The school district said in a statement Wednesday that it was “cooperating with the investigation” and that it had “do not have further information at this time,” according to the AP. The AP also said Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, citing the Los Angeles Times.

Kerr told The 74 she was never paid her $630,000 commission for work closing the AllHere deal, the AP reported, and the Associated Press said it was unable to reach Kerr for comment. The report added that Kerr’s account was described in coverage of AllHere’s 2024 bankruptcy hearings.

The AP said Carvalho became superintendent in 2022 after leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools. It reported that in 2014 a national superintendents association named him Superintendent of the Year, and that Spain knighted the Portugal-born administrator in 2021 for his work expanding Spanish-language programs in Miami-Dade County schools.

The AP also said Carvalho later took the job in California and became a harsh critic of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, especially after raids in Los Angeles last year. It added that he arrived in Los Angeles at a critical moment as the district had funding from state and federal COVID-19 relief money but still struggled with pandemic-related impacts including learning losses and declining enrollment, according to the report.

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