Charlotte School Learns Expensive Lesson After Smearing Student Over Charlie Kirk Tribute
By Jennifer Oliver O'ConnellIt is coming up on a year since the murder of TPUSA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk, and the rallying cry to "Be Like Charlie" continues to resonate in the generations who he so greatly inspired. Two days after his murder in September of 2025, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg student named Gabby Stout painted a patriotic message on the school's spirit rock to honor Charlie. Despite receiving permission from the school to do this, school officials painted over the rock, claiming it had been vandalized and making an entire show of it.
The school administrators broadcast a message about the purported vandalism to the entire school, stating that whoever did this was in violation of the school honor code, and that law enforcement would mount an investigation. When Stout acknowledged she was the one who painted the rock, the administrators attempted to punish her for her speech. In an interview in 2025, Stout said she was pulled from class, questioned by administrators, ordered to provide a written statement of apology, and to surrender her phone for inspection.
The Stout family pushed back, filing a federal lawsuit in December against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district for sweeping violations of Stout's First Amendment rights.
Six months later, the school district and Stout reached a settlement that favored not only Stout's free speech rights, but the speech rights of any student who would come after her.
This settlement is a vindication not just for young Gabby Stout, but for all who truly stand for the First Amendment.
A North Carolina high school student has reached a $95,000 settlement with her school district after she was publicly accused of vandalism and told she was under police investigation. The controversy revolved around painting a campus "spirit rock" with a Bible verse and patriotic message in tribute to the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Fox News Digital has learned that a settlement was reached this week between the family of Ardrey Kell High School student Gabby Stout and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Under the terms of the agreement, the school board will adopt a new free speech policy, issue a public statement expressing regret, and pay $95,000 to Stout's legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
The settlement comes six months after the Stouts filed a federal lawsuit alleging rampant violations of the student's First Amendment rights.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools just paid $95K for a lesson on the First Amendment.
— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) June 15, 2026
That payment is part of a settlement with Gabby Stout— the high school student who painted a patriotic tribute to Charlie Kirk on a spirit rock last year.
Although Gabby had gotten permission—and… pic.twitter.com/bUZamRIfn0
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools just paid $95K for a lesson on the First Amendment.
That payment is part of a settlement with Gabby Stout— the high school student who painted a patriotic tribute to Charlie Kirk on a spirit rock last year.
Although Gabby had gotten permission—and although other students had been allowed to paint messages in support of causes like Black Lives Matter—school officials responded to Gabby’s message by painting over it, publicly accusing her of vandalism, interrogating her at school, and calling the police.
@ADFLegal helped Gabby sue the district late last year. Now, besides the payment, the district has issued a statement of regret for its actions and changed its policies to respect students’ free speech rights.
Schools can’t censor student speech just because they don’t like its message. ADF is thrilled to get this vindication for Gabby, who courageously lived out her own admonition to “live like Kirk.” I think Charlie would be proud.
Here is where this school — and too many other so-called learning institutions — made their mistake: deeming one person's First Amendment expression acceptable, while condemning another's as unacceptable. Stout rightly received the justice and the acknowledgement that she deserved, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg got the comeuppance it deserved for its over-the-top targeting of Stout.
Original HereStout told Fox News Digital the settlement ultimately clears her name.
"This settlement finally reinforces that I did nothing wrong, and the school system has to admit that publicly," she said. "After I got permission to paint a message sharing my faith in God, school officials accused me of vandalism in front of my whole school and my entire community. Then they put me through an unfair investigation. They never should have treated me this way, and by saying they regret that I had this experience, they are finally acknowledging that publicly."
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