rewrite this title in other words: A charismatic teacher, a connected consultant, and an AI deal that failed LA schools – in Etokom

Summarize this content to 100 words: Alberto Carvalho and Debra Kerr’s roots go back to their time together in the Florida education community.Carvalho was a charismatic leader of Miami-Dade County Schools, and Kerr was a well-known figure in the private sector, working for firms that did business with school systems.Carvalho delivered the keynote address at a summit for superintendents sponsored by Age of Learning, where Kerr worked as head of sales at the time. Over the years, Kerr shared Carvalho’s Facebook posts on his page, congratulating him on winning the award and often using the hashtag “#LeadershipMatters”. Three years earlier, Kerr had posed for a smiling picture next to Carvalho, who had become superintendent in Los Angeles, after delivering what she described as his “fantastic” inaugural schools speech. In 2023, Carvalho and Kerr connected through another project. Until now, Carvalho was the head of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Kerr was working with AllHere, a Boston-based startup that promised a revolutionary tool in the form of a chatbot that would provide students and families with tailored academic guidance and other support — putting the district at the leading edge of artificial intelligence in education.But the multimillion-dollar project failed within months of its partial launch. Then, the company went bankrupt and its chief executive was charged with fraud by federal prosecutors. This week, FBI agents searched the homes of Carvalho and Kerr as part of an investigation that sources confirmed is connected to Allhair. LAUSD headquarters was also searched.LAUSD placed Carvalho on indefinite administrative leave on Friday, putting his future leading the nation’s second-largest school district in jeopardy.Officials have not provided any details about the scope of the investigation or named any targets. Carvalho and Kerr could not be reached for comment. But a review of court records and other documents reveals how a technology project that reshaped education collapsed amid allegations of fraud.’Award Winning Solutions’According to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, Joanna Smith-Griffin founded AllHire in 2016 while in a startup incubator at Harvard University. Their stated goal was to use technology to reduce school absenteeism.On the startup’s now-defunct website, Smith-Griffin described herself as a former district attendance and family engagement coordinator whose experience revealed “the frustrations that often arise when trying to connect students with the right support at the right time.”The website reads, “At AllHire, our mission is to strengthen student outcomes and boost staff effectiveness by providing easy-to-use, technology-driven, evidence-based education support services.”According to the indictment charging Smith-Griffin, Allhear’s technology involved an automated text messaging service that would send “nudges” to parents in an effort to improve their child’s class attendance. He later centered the startup’s strategy on using AI technology to develop a “chatbot” that would interact with students and their families.On its website, AllHire describes itself as an “award-winning solution” and “the only digital application powered by artificial intelligence and built by teachers that has been independently proven to have a positive impact on stakeholder communication, family engagement, and student achievement.”Amid the company’s perceived success, Smith-Griffin’s public profile also rose. In 2021, she was on Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of education sector leaders.“My goal in the next 12 months is to make a land grab,” Smith-Griffin told Forbes. “We want to help students go to school every day and set them on a path to success.”Allhair had client school districts in various parts of the country, but officials later alleged that Allhair exaggerated its business success.In late 2022, Miami-Dade County Public Schools awarded AllHire a three-year, $1.8 million contract to create communication software to help at-risk students. The bidding process for the project began in late 2021, while Carvalho was still that district’s superintendent, and the school board approved the agreement in October 2022, about eight months after his departure.Carvalho has said that he has nothing to do with that contract. It is unclear what role Kerr played in securing the deal and whether he spoke to Carvalho about the project.The following year, Allhair took a $6 million job order with LAUSD to develop a new AI chatbot, “Aid,” prosecutors said. The company’s greater value proposition was looking forward, as AllHairs was to continue to manage, operate, and develop Ed – and partner with LAUSD in marketing and licensing the product to other school systems. Carvalho also denied any involvement in Allhair’s selection into LAUSD. At the AllHairs bankruptcy hearing in September 2024, Kerr said he helped the company close a lucrative deal in LA.In a splashy announcement in August 2023, Carvalho claimed that “Ed” would be LAUSD’s newest student advisor, programmed to keep parents in the loop about their child’s grades, test results, and attendance. The official launch took place in March 2024: at a party at the Roybal Learning Center, dignitaries gave speeches, a mascot in an ad suit paraded by and a DJ played tunes.But Allhear was already breaking out behind the scenes.company collapseAround May 2024, Smith-Griffin, the only person providing financial updates to investors and the company’s board of directors, was late in sending Allhair’s first quarter financial report.According to prosecutors, this prompted an associate at one of the investment companies to contact AllHair’s accountant for the report, which revealed that AllHair’s annual recurring revenue was millions of dollars less than what Smith-Griffin had reported to investors in previous quarters.AllHire’s two major investors, along with the startup’s external financial accountant, began questioning Smith-Griffin over the discrepancy.Prosecutors allege that in an effort to conceal the truth, Smith-Griffin created a fake email address for a real AllHire Financial Advisor in May 2024 and sent additional false financial and client information to investors.That June, the board of directors removed Smith-Griffin’s access to AllHairs Bank and corporate accounts and removed him from his position as chief executive, prosecutors said. According to the indictment, the company furloughed most of its employees, shut down its operations and filed for bankruptcy the following month.On September 4, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York sent a grand jury subpoena to the bankruptcy trustee asking for certain information and documents. In November, authorities arrested Smith-Griffin at her family home in North Carolina. In the indictment, prosecutors accused him of engaging in a scheme to defraud investors around November 2020.As Smith-Griffin solicited millions from investors, prosecutors allege she misrepresented her startup’s revenue, cash and customer base in marketing materials and financial statements. Smith-Griffin reportedly told investors that AllHire made about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020 from a total of 92 customers. In a subsequent round of financing, it reportedly increased revenues that year to $6.8 million.In fact, prosecutors said, the startup made about $11,000 that year. And, according to the indictment, AllHire never had more than 31 client schools and school districts.Smith-Griffin also allegedly misrepresented which public school districts were AllHire’s clients. According to the indictment, six of the eight districts it claimed as customers had no contractual relationship with AllHire. The two districts paid Allhair approximately $27,000 and $30,000 over the term of his contract. Eight districts did not include LAUSD. Prosecutors allege that Smith-Griffin fraudulently obtained approximately $10 million from AllHairs investors. She is accused of using some of those funds to make a $150,000 down payment on a home in North Carolina and pay for her wedding expenses.Smith-Griffin pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. His lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.James E. Dennehy, former assistant director-in-charge of the FBI, said in a statement at the time that Smith-Griffin’s alleged actions “have selfishly impeded the ability to create better learning environments in major school districts by prioritizing personal spending.””The FBI will ensure that anyone who takes advantage of the promise of educational opportunities for our city’s children will be taught a lesson,” Dennehy said. bankruptcy proceedingsKerr’s relationship with Allhair came to greater public attention during the September 2024 bankruptcy hearing. Kerr is listed in Delaware bankruptcy documents as the company’s largest creditor – owed $630,000 – although this is listed as disputed. Education website The 74 reported that during the bankruptcy hearing, AllHire’s former chief technology officer Toby Jackson said he had no invoices to authenticate the debt. According to the website, Kerr said during the hearing that he was never paid a commission from the first payment LAUSD made to the startup under his contract.According to The 74, Kerr told the trustee, “I never collected any commission and it is based on the commission percentage in the contract that would have been earned on any sales.”Neither the FBI nor confidential sources identified Kerr as a target of the investigation. Efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.In AllHere’s bankruptcy filing, one of the largest assets listed was the LAUSD contract – valued at $2.88 million. Allhair’s indictment and downfall was an embarrassment to Carvalho and the school system, but it did not represent a major financial risk. The school system spent about $3 million with the company for work completed as part of contracts worth up to $6 million over five years. By comparison, the district’s budget this year is $18.8 billion.In an emailed statement, Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials said the district is aware of an investigation involving Carvalho, but declined to comment. A spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the Miami-Dade school system made any payments to Allhear on its $1.89 million contract, instead routing it as a public records request that will take additional time to complete.

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