BUFORD, Ga. — Buford school system superintendent Geye Hamby has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations he made racist comments that were captured on audio recordings.
“The board anticipates further action on this matter at a specially called meeting in the next several days,” the school system said in a statement. “The district will continue to focus on the mission of empowering our students to reach their full potential.”
Hamby’s leave was effective on Tuesday, the statement said.
That same day, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Hamby was accused in a federal lawsuit of openly using racist language and speaking of wanting to kill black construction workers who had angered him.
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The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, includes audio recordings to buttress its claims. In two recorded conversations, a person identified as Hamby used racial epithets repeatedly when referring to African-American workers at a construction site.
“(Expletive) that (n-word). I’ll kill these (expletive) – shoot that (expletive) if they let me,” the person identified as Hamby can be heard saying. The person speaking repeatedly refers to blacks as “deadbeat (n-word).”
On Tuesday, in a statement emailed to the AJC, Hamby (whose first name is pronounced GUY) did not directly address the allegations. “This is a personnel and legal matter pertaining to a disgruntled employee,” he wrote. He added that he’d been instructed “not to comment.”
Cox Media Group
