Los Angeles schools chief Alberto Carvalho allegedly took unusual steps to keep his movements and communications out of view, including removing a GPS tracker from his district-issued SUV and having Telegram restored on his work computer, according to an internal letter.
The claims are part of a broader set of allegations outlined by the Los Angeles Unified School District board as it sought to terminate Carvalho or push him to resign after FBI agents raided his home and office in February.
In a June 8 letter, the board accused the former $440,000-a-year superintendent of unprofessional conduct, poor performance and violations of state law or district policy, while describing what it characterized as attempts to work outside LAUSD oversight.
Board President Scott Schmerelson alleged that Carvalho instructed staff to take the GPS device out of his district vehicle, preventing the school system from monitoring where it was being driven.
The letter also alleges Carvalho used his district-funded driver for personal tasks, including transporting his wife to LAX and driving Carvalho and a female district employee to restaurants and other social engagements.
The board further alleged that Carvalho had employees unblock Telegram on his LAUSD computer even though the messaging app had been classified as posing a high cybersecurity risk.
Carvalho’s attorneys rejected the accusations, arguing that he understood his use of the district vehicle and driver to be permitted and that LAUSD officials were aware he used secure messaging apps.
“Based on his contract and guidance from the LAUSD General Counsel – and in a heightened threat environment facing public officials like Mr. Carvalho – he understood that he was authorized to use the automobile and driver after work hours,” the lawyers wrote.
The LAUSD board president in his letter also said Carvalho used a secret-messaging service for his LAUSD computers, in violation of policy.
“You directed staff to unblock the District’s firewall to allow access to Telegram, a known website used commonly by threat actors to send anonymous messages and considered to be a high cyber risk,” the letter says.
The letter does not say why Carvalho needed a secure messaging app.
The supe’s lawyers in their in their response to the letter said LAUSD officials knew that he used a secret messaging platform.
“Like many other public officials in sensitive positions, Mr. Carvalho occasionally used secure messaging applications,” Carvalho’s attorneys wrote.
Carvalho also sought unrestricted access to the internet for his office, in violation of policy, Schmerelson’s letter says.
“You directed staff that your workspace be allowed to bypass the District’s firewall,” states the letter. “As a result, a separate unfiltered network was installed in your office.”
In their response, Carvalho’s attorneys said Carvalho needed to access “certain websites critical to the performance of his duties” that were blocked by the district.
“These IT matters were known to you and the Board,” says the letter from Calvalho’s lawyers.
Previously reported aspects of Schmerelson’s letter charged Carvalho with taking unreported gifts, outside income and donor-funded travel.
In addition, Carvalho received “gifts from contractors and lobbyists beyond the limits permitted by law,” the letter states.
Carvalho was placed on leave two days after the feds searched his properties. He resigned from his post in June.
Carvalho served as LAUSD superintendent for more than four years. He was regarded as one of the top educators in the country until the FBI raids.
Problems with Carvalho’s tenure keep appearing as fresh scrutiny is applied to his record.
Allegations charging Carvalho with violating laws that may have required the leader of the $20.6 billion school district to disclose extra income surfaced in June.
The veteran schools boss failed to report at least $107,000 he was paid for coaching the superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Carvalho drew the hefty sum beginning in mid-2022, for “executive coaching” services he provided to DPS superintendent Alex Marrero, charging the DPS at least $107,000 in invoices he submitted between November 2022 and January of this year.
Marrero “ended his formal coaching relationship” with Carvalho in February, DPS spokesman Bill Good told The Denver Post, after LAUSD put Carvalho on leave.
Federal officials have said little about the possible criminal charges the former superintendent may be facing.
Charges may be brought over nondisclosure of financial payments made to public officials such as Carvalho but they most often overlap with other charges such as fraud, tax evasion or making false statements.
FBI agents in February searched Carvalho’s San Pedro residence, LAUSD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles and the Miami home of Debra Kerr, a former consultant with the tech firm AllHere who is tied to the investigation.
AllHere’s payment for a 2023 trip to the White House taken by Carvalho was identified as an undisclosed financial benefit received by the former superintendent in the Board’s letter warning him of his potential termination for just cause.
The now-defunct artificial intelligence company developed a chatbot for the district that collapsed just weeks after its release. The company’s founder, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was charged with fraud in 2024.
The LAUSD board on June 24 replaced Carvalho with Andres Chait.
Carvalho has denied any wrongdoing. He was spotted in May on shopping trip at his local Vons supermarket with his wife.
In July he placed his Palos Verdes home up for sale, asking $1,899,000 for the 2,000-square-foot house that commands sweeping backyard views of the Pacific Ocean.
