Friends and colleagues of Beverly Hall, the former superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, extolled in a memorial service the grace, strength and courage she exhibited during her last years of work and life.
Hall died early this month of breast cancer as 12 of her former school administrators and teachers are being tried on charges related to cheating on standardized tests to raise student test scores. Prosecutors contend those defendants and Hall were engaged in a conspiracy to make Atlanta Public Schools look better, but Hall was not tried because of her illness.
“I understand that they (teachers) cheated,” said Jerome Harris, a former APS superintendent. “But the cheating did not extend to Dr. Hall’s office.”
Harris is one of nearly two dozen speakers who were scheduled to recall and speak about Hall on Tuesday at the Cathedral of Saint Philip on Peachtree Street.
Among others, her lawyer Richard Deane, said, “Dr. Hall was not guilty of those charges brought against her.”
Hundreds of people attending cheered for nearly a minute.
Former APS Deputy Superintendent Kathy Augustine said, “And, yes, it appears that a few people in our school system compromised the work of thousands.”
But “it was not the broad brush that was painted against our system,” she said.
