Search warrant for chief could be tied to district's $6 million deal with AI chatbot company.

Carvalho

Reporters, students and local residents gather outside of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho's home, which was raided by FBI agents in San Pedro on Wednesday. Photo by Raphael Richardson.

By Teresa Liu, Kristy Hutchings, Nathaniel Percy and Tyler Shaun Evains | Staff writers

Law enforcement officers served a search warrant Wednesday at the home and office of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, according to several law enforcement sources.

The Department of Justice confirmed that a search was being carried out. Other law enforcement sources said the searches took place at Carvalho's Los Angeles office and San Pedro home.

When asked about searches at Carvalho's home and office, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Ciaran McEvoy confirms there is a search pursuant to a court-issued warrant, but made no further comment.

Laura Eimiller, FBI spokesperson based in Los Angeles, confirmed the searches but echoed that the affidavit supporting the search warrants is under seal, so she cannot discuss further.

The district faced scrutiny over its $6 million contractwithAllHere, a Boston-based education technology startup that developed an artificial intelligence chatbot intended to address chronic absenteeism. LAUSD paid roughly half of that amount before the company collapsed financially in June 2024 and furloughed much of its staff.

The chatbot, known as "Ed," was rolled out with significant fanfare but was taken offline after the AllHere's collapse. Federal prosecutors in New York charged its former CEO Joanna Smith-Griffin for defrauding investors of nearly $10 million.

LAUSD has previously said it was not aware of any financial irregularities at the company and that it had not received any requests from federal authorities related to the matter. The district's inspector general also reviewed allegations involving student data privacy.

Carvalho later said he would form a task force to determine what went wrong with the district's relationship with AllHere and evaluate the district's use of artificial intelligence tools moving forward.

It was not immediately clearwhether Wednesday's searches were connected to the district's past dealings with AllHere.

The specific focus of the investigation remains unknown.

LAUSD said Wednesday it is cooperating with the investigation but has no additional information.

"We have been informed of law enforcement activity at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters and at the home of the Superintendent," the statement said. "The District is cooperating with the investigation and we do not have further information at this time."

Later Wednesday evening, the LAUSD Board of Education issued a statement acknowledging the news and seeking to reassure school communities.

"The Board's priority remains ensuring that our students, families, and employees experience a safe and welcoming learning environment," the statement read. "Teaching and learning continue across our schools."

The board added that the district remains focused on serving students and families.

By midday, LAUSD headquarters appeared to be operating as usual. Employees were walking in and out of the building, and front desk staff continued assisting visitors.

None of the district's seven board members immediately responded to requests for comments.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass' office said Wednesday that it had no information about the matter, noting that LAUSD is an independent body not governed by the city of Los Angeles.

Earlier, TV news reports showed black SUVs and agents in FBI apparel at the site. But by midmorning, itwas a quiet scene on Parker Street outside Carvalho's seaside home. The upscale neighborhood, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and lined with double-story homes, was relatively undisturbed after federal agents left the scene.

A black Ford Expedition, with government license plates, was parked outside Carvalho's home - though it's unclear to whom the vehicle belonged.

John Schafer, a neighbor of Carvalho's, said he was home when federal agents raided the superintendent's house. There were at least five or six law enforcement vehicles on the street, he said. Agents shortly after told residents to stay inside their homes.

"He's been a good neighbor," he said.

Carvalho has been chief of the nation's second-largest school system since February 2022. He was unanimously reappointed by the school board last year. Before arriving in Los Angeles, Carvalho headed the Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years.

On Tuesday, Carvalho, College Board CEO David Coleman and L.A. Unified leaders held a news conference to announce "unprecedented gains" in Advanced Placement participation and performance.

It's unknown if there is any link to Wednesday's investigation, but the U.S. Department of Justice moved last week to intervene in a federal lawsuit alleging that LAUSD discriminates against White students through its decades-old Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian or Other Non-Anglo desegregation program.

The policy provides certain schools additional resources and gives some students an edge in magnet admissions based on neighborhood racial demographics, according to the lawsuit.

"Treating Americans equally is not a suggestion - it is a core constitutional guarantee that educational institutions must follow," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the intervention. "This Department of Justice will never stop fighting to make that guarantee a reality, including for public-school students in Los Angeles."

A spokesperson for LAUSD said last week that because the matter involves pending litigation, the district is unable to comment on the specifics. However, Los Angeles Unified "remains firmly committed to ensuring all students have meaningful access to services and enriching educational opportunities," the spokesperson said.

The lawsuit, filed last month by the 1776 Project Foundation, contends that LAUSD's PHBAO designation amounts to unconstitutional race-based discrimination. The conservative nonprofit argues the policy disadvantages students based on the racial makeup of their schools.

In a court filing, the Justice Department said LAUSD administers "a race, color, and national origin-based preference system" that classified schools as PHBAO when 70% or more of the resident student population fits within the district's definition of Hispanic, Black, Asian and other non-Anglo.

According to the filing, schools designated as PHBAO receive additional staffing that lowers the student-teacher ratio by roughly 5.5 students per teacher than comparable to non-PHBAO schools. They are also required to hold two parent-teacher conferences annually, and students in those attendance zones receive priority points in the district's magnet school admissions process.

"LAUSD treats attending school with non-Whites as a disadvantage equal to attending an overcrowded school," the Justice Department said.

Last April, Carvalho - a critic of the President Donald Trump's intensified immigration enforcement - pushed back when immigration officers attempted to enter two LAUSD elementary school campuses in South Los Angeles. Department of Homeland Security officials said it aimed to conduct wellness checks on unaccompanied migrant children at the schools. Carvalho was deeply critical of the attempted visits, citing his own past as an undocumented immigrant who came to the United States as a teen.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner is moving through the courts, alleging the district misused millions of dollars earmarked for arts and music instruction under Proposition 28.

Filed last February, the suit by Beutner and eight student plaintiffs through their guardians alleges LAUSD and Carvalho violated the requirements of Proposition 28 by diverting $76.7 million to pay existing staff for existing art programs rather than hiring additional arts teachers and creating new art classes, as the law requires.

A spokesperson from LAUSD said in November that while the district would not comment on specifics of the ongoing litigation, it looks forward to having the case decided on its merits.

In 2021, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of the Inspector General investigated a $1.57 million donation from K12 Inc. to the Foundation for New Education Initiatives, a nonprofit chaired by Carvalho while he was still superintendent there. While no legal violations were found, officials were critical of the timing of the donation. The inspector general said that while the donation did not violate state or local ethics policies, it created optics of impropriety and that the funds should be returned. The foundation gave $100 gift certificates to teachers instead, according to the Miami Herald.