Former APS Superintendent Beverly Hall passes away

The former Atlanta Public Schools superintendent has passed away after a battle with Stage IV breast cancer.

Beverly Hall was in charge of the district for nearly 12 years. She retired from Atlanta schools just days before state investigators released a scathing report implicating nearly 180 educators were involved in a widespread cheating scandal as far back as 2001. Hall was accused in helping boost scores on standardized tests.

Hall was not able to stand trial due to her deteriorating health and chemotherapy treatment, but the charged were not dropped against her. 

According to doctors, when the trial started, Hall's cancer had spread to her liver and bones.

APS Superintendent Dr. Meria J. Carstarphen has issued the following statement: ”We offer our condolences to the family of Dr. Hall. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this difficult time.

Atlanta Board of Education Chair Courtney D. English also shared the following: ”On behalf of the Atlanta Board of Education, we offer our deepest sympathy to the family of Dr. Beverly Hall and encourage all to respect her family's privacy in their moment of grief.

According to the National Assessment Goveing Board, Hall was named the National Superintendent of the Year in 2009 by the American Association of School Administrators. It is the top professional honor for a K-12 education leader in the country. 

Prior to her career in Atlanta, Hall was state district superintendent of the Newark Public Schools, the largest school district in the state of New Jersey.

Hall was 66-years-old.

Hall's legal team issued the following statement Monday:

It is our sad duty to acknowledge that Dr. Beverly Hall has lost her long, difficult battle against breast cancer.  Dr. Hall fought this disease with great courage and dignity.  For the last year and a half, Dr. Hall's directions to her doctor have been simple: get me well enough to stand trial; and to her lawyers: see to it that I get a fair trial.  She was never conceed about the outcome of such a trial, only that the process be fair.  She never doubted that in a fair trial, with the jury hearing the state's contentions and her rebuttal, to include her own testimony, she would be acquitted.  In the end, she was not strong enough to go to trial although that had been her eaest hope.

As the Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, Dr. Hall fought, as she had throughout her career, for urban school children and their ability to lea.  She believed to her death that all children, regardless of circumstance, could lea if provided with proper teachers, curricula and facilities.  But we now know that there were some educators at APS who cheated in an effort to show improved leaing.  Dr. Hall long ago accepted responsibility, as the head of APS, for the unfortunate truth that some educators cheated on standardized tests.  She was deeply sorry to lea that this cheating had occurred.  At the same time, Dr. Hall continued to have deep faith in the thousands of dedicated APS educators and students who worked hard to achieve real leaing and success.  But one fact never wavered-- to her dying breath she denied any role in directing, ordering, or participating in any cheating at APS.  Even after millions of dollars, hundreds of witnesses and interviews, and a review of thousands upon thousands of emails, not a single witness has said, nor a single email demonstrated, that Dr. Hall ordered, directed, or participated in cheating. On the contrary, Dr. Hall's tireless efforts to raise standards of education at APS for every child under her care starkly contradict the notion that she somehow conspired to orchestrate widespread cheating.  She rebuilt schools, prioritized literacy, improved teaching, developed leaders, and modeized support systems.

As we have in the past, we continue to maintain Dr. Hall's innocence of all charges brought against her.  The lawyers of our firm and the other lawyers who worked to defend Dr. Hall donated thousands of hours of their time at no charge to Dr. Hall and her family because we believed in her.  Our pro bono defense was intended to spare her and her family the crushing expense of her defense at a time when she was least able to afford it.  We have been proud to serve as her counsel.  

We express our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Hall's family and to her many friends and supporters.

Richard H. Deane, Jr., J. Tom Morgan, David J. Bailey, Bettieanne C. Hart, Deborah A. Sudbury, Naomi J. Godfrey, Jamila M. Hall, L. Trammell Newton, Jr., Jones Day