A North Carolina high school student, Gabby Stout, has reached a $95,000 settlement with her school district after being publicly accused of vandalism and subjected to a police investigation. The controversy began when Stout painted a Bible verse and patriotic message on the school’s spirit rock as a tribute to the late Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA.

Background

Stout had received permission from the school’s front office to paint the message, as long as it did not contain profanity or vulgarity. However, school officials later painted over the rock and sent a school-wide message stating that the spirit rock had been vandalized with an unauthorized message. Stout was then pulled out of class, questioned, and told to write a statement admitting to the alleged vandalism.

The school district’s actions were widely criticized, with many arguing that they had violated Stout’s First Amendment rights. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal advocacy group, took up Stout’s case and filed a federal lawsuit against the school district.

Settlement

Under the terms of the settlement, the school district will adopt a new free speech policy, issue a public statement expressing regret for their actions, and pay $95,000 to Stout’s legal team. The settlement also clears Stout’s name, stating that she did not violate the school’s code of conduct and that the incident was not an act of vandalism.

Stout hopes that the settlement will ensure that the school protects students’ constitutional rights in the future. She stated, ‘I hope they learn that students don’t leave their faith or their free speech rights when they walk into school.’ The ADF also welcomed the settlement, with Senior Counsel Travis Barham stating, ‘Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools should be ashamed at how it treated Gabby. She did everything right, and they did everything wrong.’

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.