Months before the Los Angeles school board approved a $6.2 million contract with AllHere, an AI chatbot maker that is now being investigated by the FBI, top district leaders were invited to a meeting with its CEO and a consultant, who is a close friend and associate of schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

The Jan. 18, 2023, calendar invite for the gathering at the district鈥檚 downtown headquarters, billed as 鈥淎llHere Meeting,鈥� was shared with 社区黑料 by a former central office staffer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. 

The AllHere contract in question is widely believed to be connected to the high-profile raids on Carvalho鈥檚 home and district office in late February. 

社区黑料 has not received confirmation on whether the meeting took place or what specifically may have been discussed, but the invite suggests district administrators were consulting with AllHere principals five months before the contract was voted on.

It also calls into question public statements by Carvalho, who was placed on paid leave Feb. 27, that he . He said the education technology venture represented by his longtime friend and business associate Debra Kerr won the job based on legally mandated bidding. Kerr called the Jan. 18 meeting.

AllHere filed for bankruptcy in September 2024 and its founder and CEO, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was later arrested on charges of identity theft and defrauding investors. 

社区黑料 filed extensive public record requests with Los Angeles Unified School District in September 2024 for documents related to the AI chatbot contract, including all proposals, bids or submissions made by AllHere and any other companies vying for the work. The request also asked for documents detailing how the district evaluated AllHere鈥檚 qualifications and determined that the small Boston-based firm with little to no artificial intelligence experience was capable of carrying out the contract.

On Feb. 11, 17 months after those requests were filed and two weeks before the FBI raids, a senior paralegal in sent 社区黑料 an email asking if we still wanted the documents.

Through his attorneys and a spokesperson, Carvalho since the FBI probe exploded into public view. The Los Angeles Times reported that he denied any wrongdoing, pointed out that “no evidence has been presented by prosecutors supporting any allegation that (he) violated federal law” and pressed to return to his job.

鈥淢r. Carvalho remains confident that the evidence will ultimately demonstrate that he acted appropriately and in the best interests of students,鈥� said the statement that was issued through the spokesperson and the law firm of Holland & Knight, according to the Times. 鈥淲e hope the school board reinstates him promptly to his position as superintendent.鈥�

Kate Brody, the vice president of communications for , a 2,000-member LAUSD parent and educator advocacy group, sees the moment differently. Her group has called for an audit of all the education technology contracts entered into under Carvalho, saying they lack independent research into their efficacy and now is “the time to peel this whole thing back and take a look, not just at what鈥檚 going on with AllHere, but the inappropriate amount of access that all these companies have.”

“The evidence is increasingly clear that this technology is not really for the benefit of the students,” she told 社区黑料. “Our big question has been for a long time 鈥� whose benefit is it for?”

Carvalho has not been accused of any wrongdoing and authorities have not provided details about the investigation. The warrants underlying the . 

In  after the Board of Education placed Carvalho on paid leave and named an acting superintendent, the district said that while it understood 鈥渢he need for information, we cannot discuss the specifics of this matter pending investigation.鈥�

Kerr could not be reached for comment and attorneys for  Smith-Griffin did not respond to requests for comment. District spokesperson, Britt Vaughan, could not be reached for comment.

Kerr and Carvalho

Federal agents also . Her ties to Carvalho go back to his days leading the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a period of time in his prominent career that is also now reportedly under investigation. According to , grand jury subpoenas have been issued seeking records from the district鈥檚 inspector general and a fundraising foundation overseen by Carvalho while he was the Miami schools chief.

Kerr was a key player in executing the failed contract between AllHere and the nation鈥檚 second-largest school district. In addition to her being in a position to call senior staff to a meeting at district headquarters, according to the calendar invite, Kerr鈥檚 son Richard, a former AllHere account manager who began working for the company in 2022, told 社区黑料 in September 2024 he pitched AllHere to LAUSD school leaders.

Among 社区黑料鈥檚 long-unanswered public records requests were any conflict of interest disclosure forms filed by AllHere, its employees, third parties involved in the contract or LAUSD personnel.

The location listed on Kerr鈥檚 hourlong invite to discuss AllHere was the office of LAUSD鈥檚 longtime chief spokesperson Shannon Haber, who has since retired. Other invitees included senior advisor of communication B铆ch Ng峄峜 Cao, senior director of engagement and partnerships Antonio Plascencia Jr.. and director of development and civic engagement Sara Mooney. 

Mooney is also the former executive director of the , the district鈥檚 separate fundraising arm includes Carvalho. Attempts to reach Haber and the other meeting invitees, which also included Vaughan, the district spokesperson, and marketing director Lourdes Valentine, were unsuccessful.

Earlier calendar entries shared with 社区黑料 show Carvalho had an hourlong meeting scheduled with Kerr and someone identified only as 鈥淪N鈥� on Oct. 21, 2022, about eight months after he took the $440,000-a-year job in Los Angeles. The meeting was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at a place 鈥渢o be determined.鈥�

In 2022, Kerr was busy consulting for and promoting AllHere in multiple Florida cities, according to . She also did consulting work for Rethink Ed, a New York-based company that provides social-emotional and wellness resources. In May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national school shutdowns, to support students with autism and other related disabilities during remote learning. 

“We appreciate partners like Rethink Ed which assist us in empowering these very deserving students with a variety of innovative and helpful tools to successfully engage in distance learning,鈥� Carvalho said in a statement when the Miami-Dade contract was announced.

Roughly two years later, when Carvalho was leading LAUSD, the firm

Other calendar entries shared with 社区黑料 show that right before the scheduled meeting with Kerr that October Friday, Carvalho had back-to-back interviews lined up with reporters from The Wall Street Journal and Politico. Later that day, he was scheduled to attend a retirement dinner for Michael Hinojosa, the former Dallas schools superintendent, at the Ravello restaurant at the Four Seasons in Buena Vista Lake, Florida, near Orlando.

Two days before Carvalho was due back in Florida for that celebration, the a $1.89 million contract to provide text-messaging support to students struggling with attendance, academics and social-emotional issues. The SMS tool was a precursor to its AI-powered chatbot. 

Carvalho told the Los Angeles Times he had getting the three-year deal in Miami although the newspaper reported that the bidding process began while he was still in charge. 

Two years later, in November 2024, the district would move with Miami-Dade schools for a period of three years after the ed tech company abandoned its contract.

社区黑料 filed public records requests on Sept. 13, 2024, asking for copies for all of Carvalho鈥檚 daily calendars going back to his first date of employment at LAUSD. The district has yet to produce them.  

AllHere then gone

Also invited to the Jan. 18, 2023, meeting set up by Kerr was AllHere鈥檚 Smith-Griffin, who six months after landing the L.A. schools deal was charged with defrauding investors of nearly $10 million.

Her case, which involves allegations of securities and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, is being heard in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The Harvard graduate and former middle school math teacher  pleaded not guilty in December 2024. Conferences on her case were postponed three separate times in 2025 to allow the parties time to work on a possible disposition. The last was a 60-day adjournment on Sept. 25, 2025, and there鈥檚 been no activity in the file since then.

By the time Smith-Griffin was arrested at her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, in November 2024, the company she founded in 2016 had been forced into bankruptcy, unable to pay its debts, including a disputed $630,000 commission claimed by its largest creditor: Kerr.

Carvalho and Smith-Griffin spent considerable time together in the spring of 2024, appearing at multiple ed tech conferences touting 鈥淓d,鈥� their sunny chatbot that was seen as catapulting LAUSD into the K-12 AI vanguard. They said communicating with Ed would provide an unprecedented level of support, accelerating learning and strengthening well-being for students and families, many of whom were still struggling from the pandemic. 

鈥淗e鈥檚 going to talk to you in 100 different languages, he鈥檚 going to connect with you, he鈥檚 going to fall in love with you,鈥� Carvalho raved at the April 2024 ASU+GSV conference in San Diego. 鈥淗opefully you鈥檒l love it, and in the process we are transforming a school system of 540,000 students into 540,000 鈥榮chools of one鈥� through absolute personalization and individualization.鈥�

None of that materialized for the district, whose enrollment has since and which is now and

After AllHere shuttered and a former company manager-turned-whistleblower told 社区黑料 that students鈥� private data  was not properly protected in the push to launch Ed, Carvalho vowed to investigate. He promised a task force of outside experts who would dig into what went wrong with the AllHere contract and determine how the district could strengthen its bidding process to avoid future debacles.

Carvalho told the Los Angeles Times in July 2024, he expected. Some 19 months later, there鈥檚 been no further news or shared task force findings. The district鈥檚 independent inspector general鈥檚 office launched its own investigation around the same time. 

However, the office鈥檚 and reports to the Board of Education make no mention of AllHere. In 2024, the IG opened a total of 62 cases, closed 54 and identified nearly $2.5 million in waste. In 2025, it opened 38 cases and closed 43, including some from previous years, though none appear to have involved AllHere. No financial waste was identified in 2025. 

Inspector General Sue Stengel at the end of 2025 after three years. The office did not respond to a request for comment. 

Equally elusive is what happened to Ed or the underlying tech tool for which LAUSD paid AllHere $3 million out of its $6.2 million contract. Although it鈥檚 been reported that school officials said the district was not financially harmed in the contractual fallout, and it received the services and products it spent several million dollars to acquire, it鈥檚 difficult to substantiate that.

When Carvalho unveiled Ed at a major March 20, 2024, celebration attended by Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, he said the chatbot would be in 101 elementary, middle and high schools as part of a pilot program. By the fall, Ed was supposed to go districtwide. 

Much later, that reported group of Ed testers had been 鈥渢o a small number of schools (that) tried it out, each with a sample of students and parents.鈥� In July 2024 after the district 鈥渦nplugged鈥� Ed in the wake of AllHere鈥檚 demise, that it was 鈥渉ard to find students, teachers or other staff who have used any part of the system since its official launch.鈥� 

Absent human interactions with Ed, the district has been slow to produce documentation from AllHere of services rendered. Among the public records sought by 社区黑料 in September 2024, which LAUSD now appears ready to provide, are 鈥減urchase orders, invoices, and payments records related to any and all goods and/or services provided by AllHere.鈥� 

Staff reporter Amanda Geduld contributed to this report

The election of a progressive mayor who has said he wants to end mayoral control of New York City schools might seem like a bellwether.

The next largest school systems, Los Angeles and Miami-Dade County, have been run by elected boards for years. Chicago is transitioning to a fully elected board after decades under mayoral control.

But don鈥檛 .

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani hasn鈥檛 laid out clear plans, and his references to 鈥渃o-governance鈥� could mean a lot of things, including an ongoing role for the mayor.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, another progressive, supported a when she ran in 2021, but once she was in office.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, has in support of union priorities.

And in Indianapolis, some community groups are in an increasingly fractured school system.

Many large cities have repeatedly overhauled their school governance of the previous model. Now a new set of existential threats 鈥� declining enrollment, looming school closures and layoffs, persistent academic challenges, and threats from the Trump administration 鈥� are reviving conversations about who can claim to exercise legitimate power over schools.

Who gets to make decisions on behalf of students and families feels particularly high stakes in this moment.

Yet there is little evidence that voters consistently prioritize student outcomes at the ballot box, whether they鈥檙e voting for mayors or school board members. Nor is there strong evidence that any particular system consistently delivers better results for students, better financial management, or more responsive leadership.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like getting dirty and changing clothes and expecting to smell good without taking a bath,鈥� said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you鈥檙e doing when you change your governance structure.鈥�

School closures put focus on who makes decisions

Education reform policies such as expanding school choice, closing low-performing schools, and welcoming charter schools have been supported by both mayors and elected school boards, sometimes under threat of state takeover. Those changes have reshaped communities in complicated ways.

New schools proliferated, and students got more opportunities. At the same time, the connections between neighborhoods and schools have frayed, competition for students and funding is fiercer, and multiple entities are now responsible for school oversight. These new realities are testing old ways of running schools.

In Indianapolis, the mayor already authorizes charter schools independently from Indianapolis Public Schools, which is run by an elected board. than district-run schools. Legislation from earlier this year that would have failed, but a state-created advisory group, chaired by Mayor Joe Hogsett, is charged with figuring out how city schools should share buildings and transportation services.

The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance is also considering proposals that would in school governance, including appointing most or all of the board.

Historically, groups associated with education reform have . Yet the Mind Trust, an influential pro-charter nonprofit that supported an appointed board in the past, hasn鈥檛 taken a position yet. Several potential Indianapolis mayoral candidates for 2027 are charter skeptics and supporters of an elected board.

Cleveland, where , is grappling with similar challenges.

As in Indianapolis, a large share of the district鈥檚 school-age children attend charter or private schools after decades under the , and enrollment in district schools has plummeted. Supporters of mayoral control sometimes , but Mayor Justin Bibb鈥檚 is causing some community members to demand a greater voice.

reported an exchange at a recent community meeting between Bibb and teacher Sarah Hodge.

鈥淎re you gonna go with us on the plan to make sure that the voters are re-enfranchised to vote for their school board?鈥� Hodge said. Bibb responded that voters can seek a new system if they wish, but he has full confidence in his appointed board and in schools CEO Warren Morgan.

The ability to push ahead with a school closure plan is one of the benefits of mayoral control, said Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a center-right think tank. He contrasted Cleveland with Columbus, where the elected school board has moved more slowly in response to many of the same pressures.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e controversial, they鈥檙e hard to do, and it does take leadership,鈥� Churchill said. And there is still a democratic check on the process. People vote for the mayor, he said, and most people know who their mayor is 鈥� unlike their school board members.

Hodge has a very different view. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not bold to upset the entire city,鈥� she said in an interview.

She believes an elected school board would listen to parents and ultimately come up with a better plan for what she agrees are necessary closures.

Hodge is working with a small group of other teachers and activists to . But Ohio鈥檚 Republican trifecta state government is unlikely to go along willingly.

Hodge and other Cleveland activists have watched conservative groups like Moms for Liberty exert their influence on school boards. She wonders why people in Cleveland have fewer rights.

鈥淚f the people of Cleveland want to make an idiotic decision, that鈥檚 our right,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ince when do legislatures get to tell people, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 get to vote. You鈥檙e too terrible to make decisions for yourself?鈥欌��

Voters often don鈥檛 care much about test scores

If mayoral control of schools is undemocratic, elected school boards raise their own questions about representation.

Most school board members are elected by small numbers of voters who don鈥檛 have children themselves and who aren鈥檛 . Once in office, they , surveys show.

Vladimir Kogan, a political science professor at Ohio State University, said that鈥檚 because voters don鈥檛 give them any incentive to do so.

Voters in school board elections might care about home values, taxes, jobs, or 鈥渟ymbolic virtue signaling that they are [on] team red and team blue,鈥� Kogan said, before they care about how well schools are serving students.

School board elections are one of the few places parents can pull on the levers of power, said Keri Rodrigues, a Boston parent and president of the National Parents Union, an advocacy group. But they can turn out to be 鈥渄emocracy in name only.鈥�

It doesn鈥檛 have to be that way, said Scott Levy, author of 鈥淲hy School Boards Matter.鈥� Many school board members would benefit from more training, including on how to understand academic data and budgets.

鈥淚f you look at education reform efforts, you can find every permutation except investing in school boards,鈥� he said.

But if school boards don鈥檛 spend enough time on schooling, it鈥檚 not clear that mayors who do reap big benefits.

Kogan points to former District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty. Public opinion polls at the time showed under his controversial appointed chancellor, Michelle Rhee. But he : that accompanied the overhaul of D.C. schools.

鈥淩eformers have a wrong theory of change about mayoral control,鈥� Kogan said. 鈥淭he idea is that mayors are more visible, and it鈥檚 easier to hold them accountable. That assumes that voters care about academics.鈥�

Progressive mayors want a role in schools

Fights over who gets to control schools often reflect racial and political divisions. Predominantly white business interests, Black- and Latino-led community groups, and teachers unions wrestle for influence. Republican legislatures try to control Democrat-led cities.

Mayoral control spread in the 1990s and 2000s as white flight and shrinking tax bases undermined school systems. Mayors, the thinking went, could elevate the importance of education, marshal resources, and insulate governance from the influence of teachers unions.

Some of these political assumptions have eroded as voters choose more left-leaning mayors.

In last year鈥檚 鈥� held amid a that 鈥� the mayor鈥檚 union-backed allies picked up only four of the 10 elected seats. But with 11 appointees on the 21-member board until 2027, Johnson still controls the school board.

During recent union contract negotiations, to hire more staff and cover a larger share of pension costs, which district leaders feared would be financially unsustainable. The , not the board, to .

Wu, Boston鈥檚 progressive mayor, became a firm believer in mayoral control once she was in office. During a , a caller reminded Wu that the idea of an elected school board 鈥済ot more votes than you.鈥�

Wu pointed to frequent superintendent turnover and the recent threat of state takeover to argue against the idea.

鈥淲e need to have a focus on stabilizing and getting our school facilities up to date and mental health supports and some of the academic changes that we鈥檙e making,鈥� Wu said.

Voters haven鈥檛 penalized Wu 鈥� she .

New York parents, community groups want more say

Mayoral control in New York City is up for renewal in 2026. If Mamdani goes to Albany and advocates for less authority, he鈥檒l be the first New York mayor to do so.

When Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman, successfully lobbied for mayoral control in 2002, people were concerned not just about student achievement but basic safety. Some of the city鈥檚 local community boards, which ran 32 regional school districts, were corrupt or dysfunctional.

Bloomberg gained the sole ability to appoint the chancellor and the majority of the city鈥檚 school board. He adopted a that included charter school expansion and greater school accountability. Test scores and other metrics improved. New York City represented a 鈥渧ictory lap for mayoral control,鈥� said Collins, the Columbia professor.

But Bloomberg also introduced Lucy Calkins鈥� now-discredited . Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected on a public safety platform, 鈥� but the rollout . Now Mamdani, who ran on affordability, may give schools and teachers more autonomy.

鈥淭hat whiplash is a real problem,鈥� said Jonathan Greenberg, a Queens parent and member of the Education Council Consortium, a coalition of parent leaders. 鈥淪o much of the really deep-seated changes we think need to happen take more than two years or more than four years.鈥�

Mayoral control , with the school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy, expanding and exerting more independence.

Finding the right balance for an exceptionally large and complex school system may not be easy. The coalition is proposing a short extension of mayoral control 鈥� but with the mayor no longer appointing the majority of school panel members.

Greenberg hopes that policy experts can help the city design a system that allows for community control and a healthy central system that can do things at scale.

Low voter turnout in both mayoral and school board elections should be treated like a crisis, Collins said. A better system would allow for more meaningful participation, and not just at the ballot box.

Unless more people are engaged, Collins said, 鈥渢here鈥檚 going to be a small fraction of people who decide who serves, and the people who are serving are going to be disconnected from the true needs of the folks who are sending their kids to school.鈥�

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

The latest chapter in AllHere鈥檚 dizzying collapse revealed more information about the once-lauded company鈥檚 finances and its relationship with the Los Angeles Unified School District. But the hearing failed to answer key questions about why AllHere went under after garnering $12 million in investor capital, a blizzard of positive press and a contract with the nation鈥檚 second-largest school district to create 鈥淓d,鈥� the buzzy, AI-powered chatbot.

During the hearing held over Zoom, one of AllHere鈥檚 only remaining executives, former chief technology officer Toby Jackson, struggled to explain why the company paid ousted CEO Joanna Smith-Griffin $243,000 in expenses from the past year and owed $630,000 to its largest creditor, education technology salesperson Debra Kerr. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know exactly the nature of all of [Smith-Griffin鈥檚] expenses. She was the CEO and so that is one of the outstanding questions that we also have,鈥� Jackson said when quizzed about the six-figure amount by the bankruptcy trustee. 鈥淪he did do quite a bit of travel as the CEO of the company.鈥� 

Similarly, Jackson said he had no invoices to substantiate the $630,000 debt to Kerr, who is a longtime associate and of Los Angeles schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, dating back to his days leading Miami-Dade schools. Kerr鈥檚 son, Richard, is a former AllHere account executive who told 社区黑料 this week he pitched the AllHere deal to Los Angeles school leaders.

鈥淚鈥檓 not really sure what exactly that entails,鈥� Jackson said of Kerr鈥檚 claim.

Moments later, Kerr chimed into the Zoom hearing, arguing the company owed her the money after she helped AllHere close the lucrative deal in L.A. Kerr said she was never paid her commission from the first payments that LAUSD made to AllHere under the contract. 

The district has said it paid AllHere roughly $3 million of the $6 million for the chatbot, which was taken offline shortly after AllHere announced in June that it was in financial distress and had furloughed most of its employees. 

鈥淚 never did collect any commissions and it鈥檚 in the contract based on commission percentages that would have been made on any sales accrued,鈥� Kerr told the trustee.

Smith-Griffin, who now lives in North Carolina, was not present for the Zoom hearing and could not be reached for comment. There were indications in the hearing that her separation from AllHere was not amicable, including that the former CEO has refused to disclose the password to her $500 company-owned laptop, one of its few remaining assets. 

Court records show that Jackson, now the head restructuring officer, earned $305,000 a year in his role with the company before it shuttered, nearly three times the $105,000 paid to Smith-Griffin, a Harvard University graduate who built AllHere in 2016 with financial backing from the prestigious institution. 

Filed in mid-August, AllHere鈥檚 Title 7 bankruptcy petition strengthens doubts that it could find a new owner to take over its mission as an AI pioneer in K-12 schools. That scenario was put forth by a Los Angeles school district spokesperson earlier this year with the assertion that 鈥淓d鈥� could still be successfully launched as a personalized, interactive learning acceleration tool for all of the district鈥檚 roughly 540,000 students and their families.

Instead, court records show AllHere鈥檚 few remaining employees are preparing for 鈥渢he wind down of the company鈥� and officials acknowledged during Tuesday鈥檚 proceeding that AllHere was unable to fulfill the terms of its contract with L.A. Unified. 

A lawyer representing the school district was present at the hearing. In a statement Tuesday evening, a district spokesperson said LAUSD is 鈥渆valuating its next steps to pursue and protect its rights in the bankruptcy proceedings.鈥� 

Kerr and Carvalho 

Ties between Kerr and Carvalho go back to at least 2010, when she worked for the behemoth education company Back then, she gave Carvalho and Miami students what she to an original print of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Ever since, Carvalho, who took over leadership in Los Angeles in 2022, has been a regular staple on Kerr鈥檚 social media. 

A LinkedIn post promoting L.A.鈥檚 chatbot noted that the tool worked in partnership with services from seven companies including , the creators of digital education program ABCmouse and where Kerr previously worked as head of sales. 

Kerr didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment but her son, Richard, who began working at AllHere in 2022, said among the school district deals he worked on for the company was the chatbot project in Los Angeles. 

鈥淲e had a big deal in L.A. and the investors, I guess, didn鈥檛 have patience to wait to get paid from it,鈥� he said. 

Kerr said he met with education officials in Los Angeles and 鈥渄id a lot of work鈥� helping the company secure the ageement. When asked about his mother鈥檚 role in closing AllHere’s contract in Los Angeles, Kerr said 鈥渟he had a lot to do with it,鈥� but didn鈥檛 elaborate further.听

A statement from the L.A. district spokesperson said that 鈥淟os Angeles Unified launched a competitive鈥� request for proposals that received 鈥渕ultiple responses,鈥� which eventually led to AllHere鈥檚 selection. This spring, Carvalho went on the road with Smith-Griffin to promote “Ed,” billing the chatbot personified by a yellow sun as being 鈥渦nprecedented in American public education.鈥�

Before he was furloughed, Richard Kerr said AllHere was a great place to work 鈥� in part because of Smith-Griffin鈥檚 leadership.

鈥淚t’s very unfortunate what happened to Joanna. I thought she was on a great path and she was doing an amazing thing,鈥� he said, adding that she made a mistake when she 鈥渂rought in the wrong investors that were pretty vindictive鈥� and decided to cut short the company without giving it a proper chance. 

AllHere鈥檚 former senior director of software engineering, who became a company whistleblower, told 社区黑料 earlier this year that AllHere struggled to meet the terms of its contract in Los Angeles and took shortcuts that violated bedrock student privacy principles and district rules. Both the district鈥檚 independent inspector general and top administrators have launched separate investigations into what went wrong with AllHere.

Even though his mother, Debra Kerr, was on the Delaware court鈥檚 Zoom call Tuesday, Richard Kerr said he was unaware his former employer had filed for bankruptcy.

What鈥檚 left

The company鈥檚 few remaining employees and board members, including former Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Janice Jackson, have not made themselves available for comment. 

AllHere investor Andrew Parker, who was on vacation Tuesday and didn鈥檛 attend the court hearing, now serves as the company鈥檚 secretary. In addition to Janice Jackson, other players who signed AllHere鈥檚 bankruptcy petition are Andre Bennin, a managing partner with the investment firm , and education consultant Jeff Livingston. 

Even though Smith-Griffin is no longer with the company, court records show she still has a significant stake, holding 81% equity in its common stock. Rethink Education was by far the company鈥檚 biggest outside investor. 

Other top creditors, according to court records, are the law firm of at nearly $275,000, the information technology company at $190,000 and $123,000 to well-known education consulting firm  

Earlier in the summer, 社区黑料 spoke with Gunderson Dettmer partner Jay Hachigian, who said he had only worked with AllHere early in its formation. He didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment this week about his firm鈥檚 large outstanding balance with the company. Whiteboard Advisors spokesperson Thomas Rodgers said in an email that his firm previously worked with AllHere but its role is covered by a nondisclosure agreement. 

Court records show the company earned $2.4 million in gross revenue last year but had generated much less since January, about $587,000.

At the time of bankruptcy, court records show the company had active contracts with just 10 school districts, including those in Cincinnati, Miami and Weehawken, New Jersey. Only Weehawken sought to use the chatbot platform created for LAUSD, while the rest relied on an earlier text messaging tool designed to combat chronic absenteeism. 

Despite landing millions of dollars in backing from a group of social impact investment firms, several of which cited their enthusiasm for investing in AllHere specifically because it was led by a Black woman, court records reveal the company鈥檚 coffers are nearly empty. AllHere claimed nearly $2.9 million in property and just shy of that 鈥� $1.75 million 鈥� in liabilities. The company鈥檚 actual assets, Toby Jackson acknowledged in court, are much lower. 

It claimed an 鈥渦nknown鈥� value on pending patents, which Jackson conceded Tuesday had been denied, and $2.88 million for licenses, franchises and royalties for its LAUSD contract. Other assets, including its website and chatbot source code, were also listed at a value of 鈥渦nknown.鈥�

Jackson said the Los Angeles contract was valued at $2.88 million for the remaining outstanding balance the district owes to fulfill the agreement 鈥� money he admitted AllHere would be unable to collect because it has not 鈥渉eld up our part of the bargain in the contract鈥� and is closing shop.

Financial statements to the court show AllHere had $18,000 in savings and just $500 in physical assets: the value of Smith-Griffin鈥檚 work laptop, whose contents remain outside the tech company鈥檚 reach. 

鈥淲e have not been able to obtain the credentials for Mrs. Smith鈥檚 laptop. We did not receive any cooperation with that,鈥� Jackson testified Tuesday. 鈥淪he has been cooperative with some other matters, but not with this one.鈥�

That鈥檚 because personalized, competency-based learning offers a promising alternative to traditional instruction and has been shown to help accelerate academic gains. Teachers can design personalized learning experiences that target instruction to address specific skills while ensuring that students meet the same academic standards and learning objectives that they would in a traditional classroom.

By better understanding each student’s level of understanding and need, educators can minimize the potential for compounding gaps in essential knowledge and skills. This is critically important, because if students haven’t firmly grasped foundational concepts from years before, their path to proficiency is obstructed, and they are bound to struggle.

In mathematics, for instance, students must first understand how to multiply decimals, which is taught in fifth grade, before they can confidently calculate percentages in seventh.

Miami-Dade Public Schools recognized this early in the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented a that utilized need-driven decision-making to ensure that resources reached individual students at the appropriate levels.

Rather than following rigid timelines and lesson plans, Miami-Dade dedicated extra time to foundational competence. The district developed and implemented strategies to evaluate students based on their level of academic achievement in meeting essential standards in both their current and previous grades.

As a result, while other school districts have struggled to recover from pandemic-related learning loss, has returned to pre-pandemic proficiency with minimal disruption. On the 2023 statewide accountability assessments, which are designed to measure progress toward critical learning benchmarks, Miami-Dade surpassed the state in the proportion of students scoring at grade level or higher in both English and math.

This highlights the importance of utilizing innovative educational strategies to meet students where they are. When young people succeed in school, they become more motivated to explore new topics 鈥� and that鈥檚 important. A new report from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation surveyed over 1,000 students, ages 12 to 18, and found that less than half felt motivated to attend school.

Too often, traditional education falls short in helping students see relevance to their everyday lives. Project-based learning is an example of a competency-based learning experience that integrates knowledge with practical applications. This strategy cultivates critical thinking skills that are essential for success beyond the classroom, while helping students deepen their understanding of core concepts by using what they know to solve real-world problems.

For example, a study of a middle school project-based showed, on average, that students performed higher than a matched comparison group on state English Language Arts assessments by 8 percentage points in year two and 10 percentage points in year three. By aligning competencies with academic standards, educators can ensure that students receive a rigorous education that prepares them for academic achievement.

The effectiveness of competency-based methods is evident in performance-based schools like the . Lindsey Unified ranked No. 1 in English Language Arts growth on the 2019 Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium achievement test when compared with 63 similar districts, rising from the 33rd to the 87th percentile. By coupling core content with skills like communication, teamwork and adaptability, Lindsey Unified equips its students with both the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Lindsay Unified is not alone. A RAND study of that participated in a personalized learning intervention found that after two years, students who started in the bottom quartile demonstrated greater gains than peers with similar demographics, prior academic performance and socioeconomic status that were not part of the intervention groups. The 32 schools were located predominantly in urban areas and served large numbers of minority students from low-income families.

Personalized learning cannot improve student outcomes without a major shift in mindset and significant changes in teaching methods. There is no quick fix or simple solution. Education must be reimagined in a way that celebrates each student’s individuality and considers how factors outside of school influence what happens within them. By implementing systems that provide tailored, differentiated support, learning can be made relevant and engaging for students.

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded the RAND study and provides financial support to 社区黑料. Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to 社区黑料.

Long considered a swing state, Florida voters fell this year, including in Miami-Dade County, which has long been a Democratic enclave. Just this summer at an education conference in Orlando, former Miami-Dade schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho joked about the state of Florida politics: “The further south you go in Florida, the more north you find yourself.”

But this year, in a political climate defined by social and economic anxiety, DeSantis skated past Crist in Miami-Dade to become the first GOP gubernatorial candidate to secure the county since 2002. In doing so, he positioned himself for a possible 2024 presidential run and a looming showdown for control of the GOP with former President Donald Trump.

鈥淲e not only won election,鈥� DeSantis said during his victory speech Tuesday night. 鈥淲e have rewritten the political map.鈥� 

DeSantis 鈥� who rose to national prominence for mask mandates, from participating in girls鈥� athletics and cracking down on 鈥� secured nearly 60% of votes. During his victory speech, he boasted about his response to the pandemic, which , and grievances about schools.

鈥淲e chose facts over fear, we chose education over indoctrination, we chose law and order over rioting and disorder,鈥� said DeSantis, who first squeaked into office in 2018. 鈥淲e fight the woke in the legislature, we fight the woke in the schools, we fight the woke in the corporations. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.鈥�

The extent to which DeSantis leaned into education as a political motivator was seen in his decision to endorse 30 candidates in local school board races this year. All six of the DeSantis-backed school board contenders won their runoffs Tuesday, meaning 24 of the 30 candidates the governor supported were victorious, .

The Florida governor鈥檚 growing stature hasn鈥檛 been lost on Trump, who could announce his third presidential bid as early as next week. During just three days before the midterms, Trump highlighted favorable poll numbers that showed him at the head of the pack in a race for the GOP nomination in 2024. 

鈥淭here it is, Trump at 71,鈥� the former president said before laying into the governor with a jab. 鈥淩on De-Sanctimonious at 10%.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 name was never invoked by DeSantis on Tuesday who hinted at his larger political ambitions.听

鈥淚 believe the survival of the American experiment requires a revival of true American principles,鈥� he said. 鈥淔lorida has proved that it can be done. We offer a ray of hope that better days still lie ahead.鈥�

The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a听听with Alberto Carvalho as the district鈥檚 new superintendent. Carvalho, who has long served as chief of the Miami-Dade schools, will start March 1 or earlier. He鈥檒l earn an annual salary of $440,000, plus other benefits.

鈥淚 cannot promise you the world. What I can promise you is this 鈥� tireless dedication to this community, much like I demonstrated tireless dedication to the community of Miami-Dade for 14 years,鈥� he said during the board meeting. 鈥淭his shall not be a flash in the pan. I am here to stay.鈥�

Carvalho promised to focus on longstanding achievement gaps, empower parents to navigate school bureaucracy and offer more choice within the district to reverse declining enrollment. 

The Los Angeles Unified school board on Thursday unanimously Alberto Carvalho, one of the nation鈥檚 most respected 鈥� and buzzed about 鈥� school leaders, as the district鈥檚 next superintendent.

鈥淭his is like LeBron coming to the Lakers,鈥� said Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. 鈥淗e is by far the most effective and innovative urban superintendent in the country. This is huge for L.A.鈥�

The move to hire Carvalho, 57, who has led the Miami-Dade Public Schools since 2008 and famously courted, then rejected, the top job in New York City, means the nation鈥檚 three largest districts will be led by energetic reformers at a time when the pandemic has severely tested the public school system. 

Pedro Martinez recently became CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, and just Thursday, New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams announced , who founded a network of all-boys schools, would be the next schools chancellor. 

Los Angeles officials are in final negotiations with Carvalho and plan to vote on his contract Tuesday, according to a district statement.

Buoyed by a generally supportive teachers union, Carvalho racked up a string of awards and accomplishments in Miami, and the district saw steady improvement in student performance before the pandemic.

In the increasingly demanding world of district chiefs, Carvalho is something of an outlier. In a , Travis Pillow, editorial director at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, noted that eight of the 10 largest urban districts have seen leadership turnover since the beginning of the pandemic. Los Angeles Unified has had eight superintendents since 2006. Carvalho, by contrast, has held the same job since 2008, having spent his entire career in Miami, working first as a teacher, then assistant principal, communications officer and lobbyist before ascending to his role as superintendent.

鈥淔or the last three decades, I have selflessly dedicated my professional career to the children of Miami鈥檚 diverse community, and I am hoping to bring that same passion, compassion and commitment to the students and families in L.A. Unified,鈥� Carvalho said in a statement.

He faces a very different context in the nation鈥檚 second-largest district, where enrollment has declined and the vocal United Teachers Los Angeles tends to have the upper hand in negotiations.

Education activist Ben Austin, who is currently pushing for a statewide ballot initiative giving students a constitutional right to a high-quality education, acknowledged Carvalho鈥檚 impressive national reputation.

But he cautioned that 鈥淟AUSD is a political black hole that has a long history of ending the careers of talented leaders.鈥�

Noting that the “prolonged pandemic has underscored the critical importance of public schools for our communities,鈥� UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cru said in a statement that the union was 鈥渞eady to work鈥� with Carvalho 鈥渢o uplift public education in LA and build racially just, fully resourced schools that serve as community anchors, where educators are valued, families are supported, and students have the resources they need to thrive.鈥�

Prior to the pandemic, the district saw notable on state tests, graduation rates and the percentage of English learners becoming proficient in English. But an analysis of data released in March showed that 40,000 high school students were off track for graduation and that reading skills among the district鈥檚 youngest students had sharply declined. 

鈥淗e鈥檚 had a really good run in Miami,鈥� said Martinez. 鈥淚 think L.A. needs a lot of work. It鈥檚 a great community, but they are behind most of the other large districts in improving student achievement.鈥�

Politics in Florida may have pushed Carvalho toward a Democrat-led state that supports mask and vaccine mandates. In Florida, Carvalho was among several superintendents who defied Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥檚 ban on districts mandating that students wear masks. Martinez, who left San Antonio for Chicago, said the two leaders gave each other 鈥渆motional support while we were fighting our governors and attorney generals.鈥�

He added if anyone had asked him who he would recommend to lead Los Angeles, he would have said Carvalho.

During former Superintendent Austin Beutner鈥檚 tenure, UTLA leaders complained about him being a non-educator. With Carvalho, they鈥檒l have a chief who knows well the inner-workings of a large school system. When he started as superintendent, the district was in financial turmoil and dozens of schools had D鈥檚 or F鈥檚 from the state. In 2018 and 2019, Miami-Dade received an A rating and had no failing schools. In 2012, the district received the , which recognized large systems showing progress, and Carvalho was named in 2014.

Arriving as an undocumented immigrant from Portugal as a teen, he worked in construction and restaurant jobs before entering college and changing career paths from pre-med to education.

The district, drawing on Carvalho鈥檚 dramatic background, noted that he 鈥渉as a story not unlike many of the students in L.A. Unified.鈥�

Katie Braude, CEO of parent advocacy group Speak UP, praised his fluency in Spanish and 鈥渆xperience in a district with a similar student population.”

鈥淐arvalho鈥檚 length of tenure in Miami-Dade is a positive contrast to LAUSD鈥檚 frequent leadership turnover in the last two decades,鈥� she said in a statement. 鈥淲e鈥檙e encouraged by his track record of strong education leadership, accountability and school turnaround.鈥�

Carvalho faces an uncertain environment on school choice in Los Angeles, where the charter school community has hit roadblocks to expansion. But in Miami, he for adapting to a growing school choice movement by offering a thriving array of magnet schools.

With Los Angeles authorizing 225 charter schools, the California Charter School Association is hoping his support of innovative school models 鈥� he founded a magnet school and named himself its principal 鈥� will translate to Los Angeles.

鈥淭here is no room for error in getting our current generation of students the educational supports and opportunities they need,鈥� CEO Myrna Castrej贸n said in a statement. 鈥淲e cannot be in denial that learning loss is real and that our kids are hurting.鈥�

Carvalho鈥檚 personal life has been more rocky than his professional one. In 2007, he received from a reporter, which likely cost him his first opportunity to be superintendent in Florida鈥檚 Pinellas County. Earlier this year, he was of infidelity on a now-deleted Instagram account.

But it was his public flirtation with the New York City job 鈥� and subsequent rejection of it on live T.V. 鈥� that brought Carvalho in for his greatest public scrutiny.

In what has been jokingly called 鈥淭he Carvalho Show,鈥� he turned down Mayor Bill de Blasio鈥檚 offer during a press conference, apparently swayed by adulation from a devoted Miami community that didn鈥檛 want him to leave.

But Noguera suggested that Carvalho likely rejected the New York job because he was also concerned about 鈥渕icromanaging from de Blasio.鈥� 

Unlike New York City, the Los Angeles district is not under mayoral control; rather, it has a paid, full-time school board and elections that draw millions in campaign donations. 

Some education advocates questioned whether a leader from outside the district has the deep connections and understanding of the community that Los Angeles needs. 

“There were several highly qualified candidates who have deep experience in the Los Angeles education system, strong relationships with the families, educators and community, and who share the lived experience of many Los Angeles students and families,鈥� said Ana Ponce, executive director of Great Public Schools Now, an advocacy group. 鈥淎 candidate without these qualities will need to quickly demonstrate a commitment to establishing authentic two-way relationships with all of us vested in the futures of Los Angeles students.”

Noguera agreed.

鈥淗e is going to need people around him who know L.A.,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥淲hat Carvalho showed in Miami is he can bring about steady improvement in a large, urban system.鈥�

An advocate of school choice, nontraditional schools and known champion of undocumented student rights, Carvalho, 57, has run Miami鈥檚 schools for more than a decade.听

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Carvalho鈥檚 sometimes unusual reform tactics have been credited for Miami-Dade鈥檚 rising high school graduation rate, now about 鈥� about than rates the year prior to his tenure.听

His aggressive approach to school reform may be welcome in Los Angeles, a system struggling with , student and overall . 听

Here are four things to know about the man set to head up the nation鈥檚 second largest district:听

1. Carvalho has spent his entire career in the Miami-Dade school system, starting as a high school science teacher in the 1980s.

Originally on track to become a doctor, he accepted a teaching job in his early 20s and 鈥渢he bug infected me,鈥� he told the 74.

In his 13 year tenure as superintendent, he鈥檚 pushed for the expansion of charter and magnet schools throughout Miami and encouraged families to use publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools.听

The 鈥減rivatization鈥� of the district, and its hefty payouts to expand school security, have garnered over concerns that they鈥檝e siphoned funds from existing, traditional schools.

鈥淲e are now working in an educational environment that is driven by choice. I believe that is a good thing. We need to actually be engaged in that choice movement. So if you do not ride that wave, you will succumb to it. I choose not to,鈥� he once said of his stance.

The academic success of his districts鈥� nontraditional schools is a reminder of how, as he summed up in a 2015 conversation with 社区黑料, 鈥�one size fits none.鈥�

From 2017 to 2019, no schools in his district were marked as failing by Florida鈥檚 Department of Education. Carvalho called the rankings, a first for the district, 鈥�.鈥澨�

2. He鈥檚 not a stranger to public confrontations, this year taking on Florida Gov. DeSantis over mask mandates.

This summer, while Florida COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, Gov. Ron DeSantis who defied his executive order banning mask mandates.听

Carvalho balked. 鈥�At no point shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck, a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and well-being of our students and dedicated employees,鈥� he said in a .听

It wasn鈥檛 the first time he鈥檇 publicly challenged state or federal leaders in efforts to protect students in Miami-Dade. In 2012, he threatened to resign if Daniela Pelaez, a North Miami valedictorian, was deported per a judge鈥檚 order.听

鈥淚 took a position then, I stood with the students,鈥� he told 社区黑料.听

Pelaez was , and President Obama鈥檚 executive order protecting undocumented DREAMers from deportation was enacted .

3. For Carvalho, student immigrant rights are personal. He grew up in Portugal and came to NYC as an undocumented immigrant in his teens.

鈥淚 remember landing in New York City, JFK International Airport, and the rest is history,鈥� Carvalho told 社区黑料 in 2018.听

Carvalho left his home in Portugal as a teen, just after becoming the first in his family to finish high school, in pursuit of higher education and financial freedom.听

He arrived without knowing English as an undocumented immigrant, at times experiencing homelessness, working as a busboy and construction worker in NYC and South Florida.听

In 2017, as President Trump鈥檚 administration firmly stood against undocumented immigration, Carvalho banned ICE from Miami-Dade鈥檚 鈥渟anctuary schools鈥� 鈥� a stark contrast to the county鈥檚 policy to detain undocumented immigrants.听

Many of the district’s students emigrated as children from Haiti, Brazil, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico.听

鈥� will any federal entity enter our schools to take immigration actions against our kids,鈥� he declared on television at the time.听

4. In 2018, he was slated to run NYC schools and turned the offer down 鈥� on live TV.

After weeks of courtship by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who called him 鈥渁 world-class educator with an unmatched track record of success,鈥� Carvalho stunned the nation after he rejected the offer during a televised Miami school board meeting.听

In a familiar flair for the dramatic, he took an extended pause from the live broadcast, returning to tearfully declare that he鈥檇 stay with Miami-Dade.听

鈥�I am breaking an agreement between adults to honor an agreement and a pact I have with the children of Miami,鈥� , admitting he鈥檇 received a supportive wave of texts and voicemails from Florida families the night before the announcement.听

The decision to NYC media and politicians, given the lengthy search process and previous indications he鈥檇 accept the coveted role to lead schools in the nation鈥檚 largest district.听