Alberto Carvalho and Debra Kerr\u2019s roots date back to their days together in the Florida education community.<\/p>\n
Carvalho was the charismatic leader of Miami-Dade County schools, and Kerr was a well-known figure in the private sector, working for firms doing business with school systems.<\/p>\n
Carvalho gave the keynote speech at a summit for superintendents sponsored by Age of Learning, where Kerr worked at the time as the head of sales. <\/p>\n
Over the years, Kerr shared Carvalho\u2019s Facebook posts to her own page, congratulating him on winning an award and often using the hashtag \u201c#leadershipmatters.\u201d Three years ago, Kerr posed for a smiling photo beside Carvalho, who had become the superintendent in Los Angeles, during what she described as his \u201cbrilliant\u201d opening of schools address. <\/p>\n
In 2023, Carvalho and Kerr became linked through another project. By now, Carvalho was head of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Kerr was working with AllHere, a Boston-based startup that promised a revolutionary tool in the form of a chatbot that would provide tailored academic guidance and other help to students and families \u2014 putting the district at the leading edge of artificial intelligence in the field of education.<\/p>\n
But the multimillion-dollar project failed within months of its partial launch<\/a>. Then, the company went bankrupt and its chief executive was accused by federal prosecutors of fraud. This week, FBI agents searched the homes of Carvalho and Kerr<\/a> as part of an investigation that sources confirmed is connected to AllHere. The LAUSD headquarters also was searched.<\/p>\n LAUSD placed Carvalho on indefinite administrative leave Friday, clouding his future helming the nation\u2019s second-largest school district.<\/p>\n Authorities have not provided any details about the scope of the investigation or named any targets. Carvalho and Kerr could not be reached for comment. But a review of court records and other documents offers a window into how a technology project envisioned as reshaping education crumbled amid allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n \u2018Award-winning solution\u2019<\/p>\n Joanna Smith-Griffin founded AllHere while at a startup incubator at Harvard University in 2016, according to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the Southern District of New York. Her stated goal was to use technology to reduce absenteeism in school.<\/p>\n On the startup\u2019s now-defunct website, Smith-Griffin described herself as a former district attendance and family engagement coordinator whose experience \u201crevealed the frustrations that often arise when trying to connect students with the right support at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt AllHere, our mission is to strengthen student outcomes and boost staff effectiveness by offering easy-to-use, technology-powered, evidence-based education support services,\u201d the website read.<\/p>\n AllHere\u2019s tech included an automated text messaging service that would send \u201cnudges\u201d to parents in an effort to improve their child\u2019s classroom attendance, according to an indictment charging Smith-Griffin. She later pivoted the startup\u2019s strategy to using AI technology to develop a \u201cchatbot\u201d that would interact with students and their families.<\/p>\n On its website, AllHere touted itself as an \u201caward-winning solution\u201d and \u201cthe only digital application powered by artificial intelligence and built by educators that is independently proven to positively impact stakeholder communication, family engagement, and student achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid the company\u2019s purported success, Smith-Griffin\u2019s public profile also grew. In 2021, she was on Forbes magazine\u2019s coveted \u201c30 Under 30\u201d<\/a> list of leaders in the education field.<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal over the next 12 months is a land grab,\u201d Smith-Griffin told Forbes. \u201cWe want to help students get to school every day and put them on the track to success.\u201d<\/p>\n AllHere had client school districts in different parts of the country, but authorities later alleged that AllHere exaggerated its business success.<\/p>\n In late 2022, Miami-Dade County Public Schools awarded AllHere a three-year, $1.8-million contract to create communication software to help at-risk students. The bidding process for the project began in the latter part of 2021, while Carvalho was still superintendent of that district, and the school board approved the agreement in October 2022, about eight months after he left.<\/p>\n Carvalho has said he had nothing to do with that contract. It is unclear what role Kerr played in securing the deal and whether she talked to Carvalho about the project.<\/p>\n The following year, AllHere entered into what became a $6-million work order with LAUSD to develop a new AI chatbot, \u201cEd,\u201d prosecutors said. The company\u2019s greater value proposition was looking forward, as AllHere was to manage, moderate and continue to develop Ed \u2014 and partner with LAUSD in marketing and licensing the product to other school systems. <\/p>\n Carvalho also denied involvement in the selection of AllHere in LAUSD. In an AllHere bankruptcy hearing in September 2024, Kerr said she helped the company close the lucrative deal in L.A.<\/p>\n