{"id":198932,"date":"2026-03-01T04:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198932\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T04:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:52:37","slug":"lausd-school-board-delays-decision-on-superintendent-carvalho-after-fbi-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198932\/","title":{"rendered":"LAUSD School Board delays decision on Superintendent Carvalho after FBI raids"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published in EdSource.<\/a><\/p>\n

After a four-hour closed session on Thursday, the Los Angeles Unified School District board recessed without announcing a decision on whether Superintendent Alberto Carvalho may be placed on leave a day after the FBI raided his residence and the district\u2019s downtown Los Angeles headquarters.<\/p>\n

The session will continue on Friday at 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Carvalho\u2019s employment was the single item addressed during the closed-door special board meeting. Only a few members of the community spoke during public comment, and the room remained largely empty and quiet.<\/p>\n

Board members were not available for interviews, and Carvalho wasn\u2019t seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe District continues normal operations across all schools and offices. We are grateful to our dedicated employees, families, and students for their steady focus and commitment to our school communities,\u201d the district board wrote in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0released shortly after Thursday\u2019s closed session ended.<\/p>\n

The federal investigation involves financial matters related to Carvalho himself, rather than the district, the Los Angeles Times reported.<\/p>\n

If the board decides to place Carvalho on leave, it remains unclear who the board might appoint as interim superintendent.<\/p>\n

Several districts have picked associate superintendents to serve as interim after placing their superintendents on leave amid active investigations.<\/p>\n

As of 8 p.m. Thursday, Carvalho has not made any public comment. Further information on Wednesday\u2019s raids has not been released.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect LAUSD to provide full transparency and clear communication to educators, school staff, and the public,\u201d United Teachers Los Angeles, the district teachers union, said in a statement to EdSource.<\/p>\n

\u201cUTLA educators and our school communities have long raised concerns about LAUSD rapidly increasing spending on education tech and outside contractors, while investment in classrooms and educators has declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

A critical time for the district<\/p>\n

LAUSD\u2019s leadership shakeup comes at a critical time, as the district navigates budget challenges, potential strikes and the impacts of federal actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that this moment really calls for clear, strong leadership,\u201d said Nicolle Fefferman, a longtime LAUSD educator and cofounder of the Facebook advocacy group Parents Supporting Teachers. \u201cAnd we want our elected school board members to make certain that that is what they are prioritizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fall out with AllHere<\/p>\n

Media reports so far have connected Wednesday\u2019s raids with the company AllHere Education, which LAUSD entered into a $6.2 million professional services contract on July 1, 2023. Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where Carvalho previously served as superintendent, had also\u00a0entered a contract agreement<\/a>\u00a0with the company in the fall of 2022.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Unified initiated the\u00a0rollout<\/a>\u00a0of its chatbot Ed, which was developed by AllHere, in March 2024. It was\u00a0designed<\/a>\u00a0to serve as a \u201cpersonal assistant\u201d for students \u2014 capable of reminding them about assignments and exams, and informing them about cafeteria menus and bus schedules.<\/p>\n

But three months later, the company\u2019s founder and CEO\u00a0Joanna Smith-Griffin<\/a>\u00a0left the company. Most employees were furloughed, and Smith-Griffin was arrested in November 2024 and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.<\/p>\n

In July 2024, Carvalho announced a\u00a0task force<\/a>\u00a0to conduct a review of what went wrong with the rollout. But its progress and outcomes don\u2019t appear to have been publicly disclosed.<\/p>\n

The home searched by the FBI in Southwest Ranches, Florida, in Broward County, is reportedly the residence of Debra Kerr, who is listed as an AllHere contractor in records related to the company\u2019s bankruptcy case and who has ties with Carvalho from his time as superintendent in Florida. Her son, Richard Kerr, is a former employee of the now-defunct AI company who told\u00a0The 74<\/a>\u00a0in 2024 that he pitched LAUSD on AllHere.<\/p>\n

Parents Supporting Teachers is calling for the district to place Carvalho on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been this lingering worry and this example of a theme of the lack of transparency and accountability that we recognize in the district,\u201d Fefferman said.<\/p>\n

A storied past<\/p>\n

In January 2025, the same parent group called for Carvalho\u2019s removal following a \u201cchaotic and dangerous scramble for families and staff\u201d in the wake of the Palisades Fire.<\/p>\n

Carvalho\u2019s contract was\u00a0renewed<\/a>\u00a0in October, maintaining a salary of $440,000.<\/p>\n

After serving as superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years, Carvalho took over as LAUSD\u2019s leader in 2022. His start at the district began as students returned to physical classrooms from virtual learning due to Covid-19. As a result of the pandemic, he has focused on reducing chronic absenteeism and curbing pandemic learning losses.<\/p>\n

But despite LAUSD\u2019s\u00a0gains<\/a>\u00a0in standardized test scores and efforts to improve student attendance, his time as the district\u2019s leader has been riddled with controversies \u2014 from alleged\u00a0mishandling<\/a>\u00a0of arts funding to a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0of cyberattacks and data breaches.<\/p>\n

More recently, he has also received praise and backlash for\u00a0condemning<\/a>\u00a0the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. And last month, the district was\u00a0sued<\/a>\u00a0for allegedly discriminating against white students, which the U.S. Department of Justice recently sought to join.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our hope that the investigation resolves quickly so that the school district can focus on its core mission of educating our children. While we understand the importance of full cooperation with any investigation, we also cannot overlook or undermine the work that Superintendent Carvalho has led to support our students, educators, and the district as a whole,\u201d said Evelyn Aleman, the organizer of the parent group Our Voice\/Nuestra Voz.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is the foundation that builds stability and lifts families out of poverty \u2014 we must stay focused on that mission and our students\u2019 success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was originally published in EdSource. After a four-hour closed session on Thursday, the Los Angeles Unified…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-198932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}