Los Angeles schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who has developed a reputation for improving academics and graduation rates while leading two major U.S. districts, had his home searched Wednesday by the FBI as part of a federal investigation.
Agents served search warrants at the home as well as the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District and a location near Miami, where Carvalho was superintendent previously.
Authorities have not given details on what they are investigating.
Here's what to know about Carvalho:
Carvalho has described his background in numerous news conferences and interviews over the years.
He was born in Portugal and spent his childhood living in poverty. He came to the U.S. more than four decades ago at age 17 and did not have legal status for a time.
Carvalho lived in New York City and then Miami. His first job in the U.S. was as a dishwasher, and he later worked as a day laborer.
After graduating with a biology degree in 1990 from Barry University, a small Catholic school near Miami, he taught science in Miami-Dade County.
“My world changed when I became a teacher,” Carvalho said in 2021. “I still feel this journey is a fairytale.”
He quickly moved up the administrative ranks in Miami, becoming a principal, district spokesperson, assistant superintendent and finally superintendent in 2008.
During his 14-year tenure leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Carvalho was recognized for improving graduation rates and academic performance, especially among Black and Hispanic students.
In 2014 he was named Superintendent of the Year by the national superintendents association, and in 2021 he was knighted by Spain for his work expanding Spanish-language school programs.
That same year the Los Angeles Board of Education unanimously voted to make him superintendent, at a time when the district was both flush with funding from state and federal COVID-19 relief and also struggling with the impacts of the pandemic, including learning losses and declining enrollment.
Over the past five years, Carvalho has been lauded for the district’s improvements in academic performance.
Carvalho has regularly opposed the administration’s aggressive crackdown in and around Los Angeles, referencing his own history as an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally.
The district, the nation’s second-largest, is made up of about 500,000 students, around 30,000 of them immigrants and some of them also without legal status.
Just before students returned to school last August, he urged immigration authorities not to conduct enforcement activity within a two-block radius of schools.
“We are appealing to the better senses of those who have the power to eliminate trauma from the streets of our community,” Carvalho said.
He announced several measures meant to protect students and families, including changing bus routes to accommodate more students. The district also said it would distribute family preparedness packets that include know-your-rights information, emergency contact updates and tips on designating a backup caregiver in case a parent is detained.
Back in Florida, Carvalho faced questions in 2020 after a nonprofit he founded solicited a $1.57 million donation from an online education company the district planned to use but later dropped.
The district’s inspector general concluded that the donation did not violate state or district ethics policies but said it created an “ appearance of impropriety ” and should be returned. The money went instead to Miami-Dade teachers in the form of $100 gift cards.
Years before that Carvalho came under criticism for exchanging explicit emails with a former Miami Herald reporter. He denied having an affair but conceded that the exchanges were inappropriate.
In 2024, in Los Angeles, he touted the development of an AI chatbot named “Ed” for district students by the AI company AllHere. Three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million, the district dropped its dealings with AllHere as it collapsed.
Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, according to the Los Angeles Times. After its founder was charged with securities and wire fraud and identity theft, he said he would appoint a task force to examine what went wrong with the project. There have been no announcements of a task force being appointed.
Associated Press writers Bianca Vázquez Toness and Christopher Weber contributed.
The exterior of the home of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is shown on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in San Pedro, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
FILE - Los Angeles District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, at podium, holds a news conference as SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias, left, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, listen, in Los Angeles City Hall, Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
SEATTLE (AP) — Hilary Knight doesn't want to let what she called a “distasteful” joke by President Donald Trump about the gold-medal winning U.S. women's Olympic hockey team get in the way of a historic performance by American women across all sports at the Milan Cortina Games.
“I just thought the joke was distasteful and unfortunate," Knight said on Wednesday alongside fellow Olympians Alex Carpenter, Hannah Bilka and Cayla Barnes at the Seattle Space Needle ahead of their return to play for the Seattle Torrent of the Professional Women's Hockey League. "And, I think just the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point and really shines light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats.”
Knight, a two-time gold medalist whose 15 goals and 33 points in Olympic competition are the most by a U.S. hockey player at the Games, said she's not focusing on an offhand comment by Trump after the American men topped Canada for gold in overtime on Sunday.
Talking on a speakerphone in the postgame locker room, Trump extended an invitation to the White House to the men's team, then added, “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” The president later joked that if he didn't extend the invitation, he would probably be impeached.
While the vast majority of the men's team flew to Washington on Tuesday and visited Trump in the White House before being guests at the State of the Union, many of the women's players were on the way back to their professional or college clubs.
USA Hockey, which said it was “honored” by the invitation, cited logistical issues as the major hurdle that prevented the women's team from stopping by the White House. The team was originally scheduled to fly commercially into New York on Monday, but was forced to reroute through Atlanta due to a snowstorm in the Northeast.
Several players were going to stick around New York for promotional purposes, even ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Those scheduled appearances had to be canceled because of flight changes.
Knight lamented that the video — which included several players laughing after Trump's comments — took on a life of its own and didn't convey the true nature of the relationship between the men's and women's US hockey programs.
“The men’s and the women’s team did it together,” Knight said. “And, that’s super special. It’s never been done in our program’s history. It’s something we’re extremely proud about. But these women are amazing. And whatever’s going on should never outshine or minimize their work and our success on the world stage.”
Kelly Pannek, a forward on the women's team, told reporters “the video is what it is" but added it was a “special feeling” spending time with the men's team after they won the first Olympic gold for the U.S. in 46 years. Pannek believes there is mutual respect and support on both sides.
Goaltender Jeremy Swayman told reporters in Boston after returning to practice with the Bruins that the men “should have reacted differently” to Trump's remarks.
“To share that gold medal with them is something that we’re forever grateful for,” Swayman said. "And now that we’re home we get to share that together forever and see the incredible support we have from the USA and share this incredible gold medal.”
Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal in overtime for the U.S., also said the moment did not reflect the views of the men's team.
“You’re in the moment and the president calls. We’re blaring the music. It is what it is,” Hughes said Wednesday night after his first game back with the New Jersey Devils. “We have so much respect for the women’s team and they have so much respect for us. We are all just proud Americans.”
The earliest the U.S. women could make a White House visit would be in late spring after the conclusion of the PWHL season.
The U.S. won 12 gold medals in Milan Cortina, with women playing a hand in eight of them. The women's hockey team outscored opponents 33-2 on its way to the top of the podium.
“This was the best American women’s hockey team, the best American team we’ve ever put together on the world stage when the lights have been the brightest ever,” Knight said. “And so, I think everybody felt that going through the tournament. And, I want to celebrate. I want people to be remembered for that. I want the legacy of this team to be remembered.”
AP freelancer Everett Merrill in Newark, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Hilary Knight (21) celebrates after scoring her side's opening goal during a women's ice hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Members of the United States' Olympic gold medal hockey team enter the gallery as President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
United States' Kendall Coyne, left, and United States' Hilary Knight celebrate after victory ceremony for women's ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
