Jamaican-born, former Atlanta Public School (APS) Superintendent Dr. Beverly La-Forte Hall lost her battle with breast cancer on March 2, 2015. Dr. Hall was 68 years old.
Jamaicans and Diaspora Caribbeans alike mourn Dr. Hall’s passing. The Atlanta Jamaican Association issued the following statement:
Dr. Beverly Hall lost her battle with cancer and the Jamaican community here in Georgia mourns her passing with great sorrow and profound regret. Jamaica has lost one of its favored and accomplished daughter. Those of us who knew her will always remember her grace under fire, her dedication to education and her unstinting willingness to serve. Dr. Hall’s arrival in the community was unheralded but her service was anything but and she will be long remembered for it.Please keep Dr. Hall’s family in your thoughts and prayers and may they take comfort in the knowledge that she served her community well and will always be remembered and appreciated for it.~Alan Stewart
President, The Atlanta Jamaican Association, Inc.
Dr. Hall born in Montego Bay, Jamaica migrated to New York City in the 1960s to attend college. She received her undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College (1970); her master’s degree from the City University of New York and later her Ed.D. from Fordham University in 1990.
After completing her studies, Dr. Hall began her career working as a teacher, principal and superintendent. She came to Atlanta with a reputation for turning around schools after serving in top roles with the New York City and Newark, New Jersey, school systems and earned accolades for her work.
Dr. Hall served as APS Superintendent from 1999-2010. During her tenure, she was praised by Atlanta’s business community and education stakeholders nationwide and in 2009 was named National Superintendent of the Year. Her accomplishments were even recognized by then U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who often discussed Dr. Hall as a success story and invited her to the White House.
In 2011, after more than a decade at the APS helm, Dr. Hall resigned after she and 35 Atlanta educators and administrators, were charged with racketeering and conspiracy (a case commonly referred to as the “Atlanta cheating scandal”).
Dr. Hall’s battle with breast cancer precluded her from standing trial, however, to the end, she maintained her innocence and wanted to stand trial to clear her name. Her legal team issued the following statement:
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 concerned 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 earnest hope.”
