The principal of TNT Academy has been let go from the non-traditional, private Stone Mountain school less than a week after video of her racially-charged comment at a graduation ceremony went viral.
Georgia NAACP president Francys Johnson confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Nancy Gordeuk “has been released.” Johnson, a civil rights attorney, said the organization planned to issue a statement Thursday morning.
WXIA-TV reported Dr. Heidi Anderson, chair of the board of directors of TNT Academy, wrote in a letter to the Gwinnett County NAACP that the board had voted to fire Gordeuk.
“In light of recent events, the board of directors of TNT Academy has moved to dismiss Nancy Gordeuk as principal,” Anderson said. “During the coming transition, we will continue to prioritize support for our most recent graduates. Moreover, we will continue our commitment to providing students with the best educational classes, transcription services and academic credit recovery possible.”
Gordeuk, who is white, provoked anger and drew national attention after comments she made at Friday’s graduation ceremony were recorded and circulated through social media.
"You people are being so rude to not listen to this speech," Gordeuk told the audience, according to video recordings of the ceremony posted on social media. "It was my fault that we missed it in the program. Look who's leaving — all the black people."
Those in the audience and Gordeuk said she made the comments when she became frustrated with people who took pictures of the ceremony while it was in progress, which she felt was a distraction and disrespectful.
In an email to parents and students of the school, Gordeuk wrote: “An unknown man at the beginning of a speech decided to walk up to the front of the audience with his tablet, videotaping the audience and the students causing disruption to the audience and disrespect to the ceremony and its participants. When disregarding the request to please sit down, the security was asked to remove the man. At that point, booing of the request commenced.
“Frustrated with the prospect of ruining the once-in-a-lifetime ceremony the graduates have worked so hard for, my emotions got the best of me and that is when I blurted out ‘you people are being so rude to not listen to this speech (valedictorian).’ It was my fault that we missed the speech in the program. I look to the left where the man was and all I saw was a mass of people leaving and I said, ‘Look who’s leaving, all the black people.’ At that point, members of the audience began to leave.”
TNT Academy offers classes and independent study for seventh- through 12th-graders and provides credit recovery for public school students who have failed a class at their regular school.
The school is accredited through the Georgia Accrediting Commission.
