The band was awful, but Beverly Hall couldn’t leave. She was the guest of honor. And so she and her husband, Luis, remained.
About 1,000 others did not, recalled Michael Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. The organization, an advocate for inner-city schools, named Hall its superintendent of the year in 2006. He remembered the moment Tuesday, in a memorial service for the Atlanta Public Schools' former superintendent. She died March 2 of breast cancer.
Finally, only Casserly, his wife, and Hall’s family were alone to applaud the sorry band. Show over, they left — gratefully.
Hall turned to her host. “‘I couldn’t tell you if this was the best night of my life,” she said, “or the worst.”
Four-hundred people laughed. Their chuckles filled the soaring sanctuary of The Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, where Hall's friends, colleagues and former coworkers extolled her life, public and private. The three-hour ceremony was part forum, part sermon and completely pro-Hall. People talked about her commitment to children, her drive — and, yes, her sense of humor.
Meantime, lawyers a few miles away from the Buckhead church continued their closing arguments in the APS cheating trial. It stems from a testing scandal that took place during Hall's tenure as superintendent. The probe has led to indictments, resignations, ruined livelihoods.
At the cathedral, a jury of Hall’s peers had already issued its own verdict on Hall: not guilty. She went to her grave professing her innocence.
“I understand that they (teachers) cheated,” said Dr. Jerome Harris, who preceded Hall as APS superintendent and is retired. “But the cheating didn’t extend to Dr. Hall’s office.”
Hall’s lawyer, Richard H. Deane, was more emphatic. “Dr. Hall was not guilty of those charges brought against her,”’ he said as hundreds cheered. “I, like you, know that to a moral certainty.”
Hall let morals guide her life, said Sharon Adams Taylor, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. She read an excerpt from an essay Hall wrote for the association:
“A system does well to let large, moral purpose be the focus of work.”
But work — its pitfalls, its politics — can be hazardous, said Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and onetime ambassador to the United Nations. Hall, he said, was a victim of others’ scheming.
“She was overcome by the politics of education,” he said. “We need to go back and ask: What are we going to do to continue the legacy of Dr. Hall?”
Hall’s legacy will continue, said Brittany Williams and Niajah Moore. Each is an APS graduate and participated in Hall’s 21st Century Scholars Program. Each is pursuing advanced degrees.
Each gave the credit to Hall, too.
“I stand before you a proud and dramatic product of the Atlanta school system,” said Williams, a Ph.D. candidate. “I would not be the woman I am today without Dr. Hall.”
Hall demanded the best of her students, added Moore, who is getting a master’s degree in education. “I was made to believe I can, I will and I must succeed,” she said.
Hall, others added, could be the dutiful spouse, too. She went along on her husband’s golf outings, reluctantly.
Dr. Moses Norman, who played golf with her husband, recalled seeing Hall at a golf tournament several years ago. Norman, who served on a panel that desegregated Atlanta schools more than 40 years ago, approached with a smile and a question:
“How you doing? Do you like golf?”
Hall’s answer was like a hard shot up the fairway, emphatic and straight. “No,” she answered. “I’m going to go in here” — she pointed at a hospitality tent — “and read this book.”
That mental sharpness remained until her final days, said Kathy Augustine, Hall’s former deputy superintendent. Augustine left APS to take a job as superintendent of a suburban Dallas school system in 2011, but soon lost her job in the wake of the APS scandal.
She recalled visiting Hall with some food — stuffed peppers — that Hall was too weak to eat. Augustine rubbed her feet instead.
“You don’t need to worry,” Augustine said. “Your work, your significance, will live on.”
Her friend struggled for words, but finally managed a question: “How is APS doing?” Hall asked.
Hall died less than a week later.
The service concluded with song and prayer. As a pianist leaned over the keys, soloist Kathleen Bertrand sang “Troubles of the World.” The hymn filled the sanctuary’s high corners.
“How soon we will be done with the trouble of the world,” she sang. “I am going home to live with God.”
Amen, voices answered. Amen.
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