Executive Summary
- LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho placed on paid administrative leave following a unanimous board vote.
- Andres Chait appointed as acting superintendent effective immediately.
- FBI agents raided Carvalho’s home and district headquarters earlier in the week.
- Investigation reportedly links to a Florida consultant and the bankrupt tech firm AllHere.
- Probe sources suggest a focus on alleged white-collar financial irregularities.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has been placed on paid administrative leave following a unanimous vote by the school board on Friday, days after Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents executed search warrants at his residence and the district’s headquarters. The board announced the decision after an extensive closed session, appointing Andres Chait, the current Chief of School Operations, as the acting superintendent to manage the nation’s second-largest school district during the transition.
According to a statement released by the LAUSD board, the decision to step aside was necessary pending the outcome of the federal investigation. Federal authorities searched Carvalho’s home in San Pedro and the district’s offices on Wednesday. Witnesses and neighbors reported seeing agents removing items from the superintendent’s property. While the FBI has not publicly detailed the specific scope of the probe, sources cited by ABC News indicate the investigation centers on alleged white-collar criminal activity.
The inquiry appears to have a multi-state dimension, linking activities in California to Florida. The Miami Herald reported that federal agents also searched a home in Southwest Ranches, Florida, belonging to Debra Kerr, an education consultant. Kerr previously worked with AllHere, an education technology company that had secured a contract worth nearly $3 million with LAUSD to develop an AI-powered chatbot for students and parents. AllHere collapsed two years ago, and its former CEO, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was subsequently indicted on fraud charges. Bankruptcy filings reportedly show Kerr claims she is owed $630,000 by the defunct company.
Prior to his tenure in Los Angeles, Carvalho served as the superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where he received national recognition for his leadership. Despite his past accolades and recent praise for academic improvements within LAUSD, the current federal scrutiny has prompted calls from community leaders for transparency. Raul Claros, director of the nonprofit California Rising, publicly called for Carvalho to step down temporarily to avoid distractions during a critical period for the district.
It is important to note that all individuals named in connection with this investigation are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Investigative Outlook
The swift suspension of Superintendent Carvalho highlights the severity with which the school board views the federal intervention. The intersection of district procurement contracts, third-party technology vendors, and federal subpoenas suggests a complex financial inquiry that may extend beyond individual conduct to systemic oversight issues. As the Department of Justice proceeds, the district faces the dual challenge of cooperating with federal authorities while maintaining educational stability for its vast student body under interim leadership.
