Two days after the FBI searched the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the home of its superintendent, the district’s Board of Education placed Alberto Carvalho on administrative leave.
The board met in closed session for several hours Thursday and Friday to discuss Carvalho’s employment at the nation’s second-largest school district. Trustees voted unanimously Friday to place Carvalho on paid leave, and appointed another high-ranking district official, Andres Chait, to serve as interim superintendent.
“Today’s action is intended to fulfill our promise to provide an excellent public education to students and families without disruption,” said School Board Chairman Scott M. Schmerelson. Said In a statement. “Andres Chait is a highly respected leader and educator, and we are fortunate to have him seamlessly step in to oversee our schools. Over the past several years, our teachers and students have made great progress, and we expect that progress to continue seamlessly.”
The board’s statement said they could not discuss why Carvalho’s home and office were raided.
On Wednesday, FBI agents raided the district office, Carvalho’s home in the Los Angeles area and another location near Miami, where the superintendent previously oversaw schools for more than a decade.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles confirmed that the search took place “pursuant to an underseal, court-authorized warrant,” but provided no further comment.
media outlets indicated the investigation is linked to the now-defunct education technology company AllHire, which created a chatbot for the district as part of a multimillion-dollar contract in 2024. Carvalho was a proponent of the chatbot, attending events with the company’s founder and saying it was “unprecedented in American public education”. The district paid the company some $3 million.
Just a few months later, the parties broke up and Allhair collapsed, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company went bankrupt and its founder Joanna Smith-Griffin faced fraud charges. According to the Times, amid the fallout, Carvalho said he was not personally involved in the company’s hiring, and that he would form a taskforce to investigate the matter.
The Florida home searched as part of the investigation reportedly belonged to Debra Kerr, who worked with Allhair miami herald Informed. Kerr was said to have had an affair with Carvalho, and 74 It was reported that his son was an AllHire employee who advocated for LAUSD on technology.
The raid Wednesday sent shock waves through the district, where the board recently voted to retain Carvalho as superintendent for four more years. The development also raised concerns that Carvalho may have been targeted for his stance on immigration actions. The superintendent has criticized enforcement activity near schools, and the district has pledged to protect students and families attending graduations from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Associated Press contributed
