The administrative offices of Buford City Schools were on lockdown Friday afternoon after a threat was called in against superintendent Geye Hamby, who resigned earlier in the day amid a lawsuit accusing him of using racial epithets.
Dan Branch, the director of Buford’s Department of Public Safety, said around 2:30 p.m. that the city’s schools were functioning as normal and that only the central office was being affected. Extra law enforcement was on-hand and would be until schools staff went home for the day.
“The threats were made to Mr. Hamby, not the school,” Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said. No further details were provided.
Hamby was not at the administrative building, Branch said.
Pihera said officers had responded to the threats call around 12:30 p.m. at the schools building on Sawnee Avenue — the same street as Buford Elementary, Buford High and the football stadium where the Wolves will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Extra security will be in place for the game, officials said.
The lawsuit against Hamby, filed by a former school system employee, included a recording of the expletive-filled tirade, during which a man identified as the superintendent uses the n-word several times to refer to a black construction worker who had angered him.
“(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.
Hamby was initially placed on leave following The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s report on the lawsuit, which accused him of race discrimination. The AJC reported his resignation about an hour before the alleged threat was called into Buford City Schools.
