School district pays $95K settlement for violating student's constitutional rights over Charlie Kirk tribute
Officials violated student's First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights
A North Carolina school district has agreed to pay $95,000 in attorneys' fees and damages after censoring an on-campus student tribute to conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk.
Last year, a high school student and her parents sued the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education over a painted tribute to Kirk that was removed shortly after it was completed.
The nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the student, announced Monday that it had reached a settlement with school district officials over the lawsuit.
Per the settlement, the board of education agreed to pay $95,000 in assorted fees, clear the student of all wrongdoing and adopt a new student speech policy for the schools.
ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham was quoted in the announcement as saying that it was “long past time for school officials to learn that they cannot promote student viewpoints they like while punishing students whose views they dislike.”
“Charlie Kirk boldly defended open and respectful discourse on school grounds literally until his last breath, and this courage inspired many across the country, including our client, whom Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials treated so abominably,” Barham continued.
“We hope the new policy prevents school officials from subjecting any other students to the abuse our client experienced and will instead force them to respect every student’s constitutional rights.”
On Sept. 10, 2025, Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated while hosting an open-air debate event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Shortly after Kirk was killed, a student at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, identified in court documents as “G.S.,” decided to paint a tribute to Kirk on the school’s spirit rock.
The rock was often painted with messages from students, including support for sports teams and political messages like Black Lives Matter.
For her part, G.S. painted the statement “Live Like Kirk” and included the statement “John 11:25,” which reads “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
In response to the painted message, the high school principal sent out a message to the campus community claiming that the tribute was unauthorized and had it painted over hours later.
According to the complaint filed late last year, which was resolved by Monday’s settlement, school officials went so far as to call the Kirk tribute on the rock “vandalism” and claimed that authorities had been contacted in response.
However, school officials backtracked on their claims that it was vandalism and that authorities had been contacted. At the same time, it established a new policy clarifying that the spirit rock was “not to be used for personal, political or religious messages.” The school also forced the student to share her phone logs without parental permission and failed to inform her and her parents of their constitutional right to remain silent and contact an attorney during a criminal investigation.
The complaint alleged that school district officials had violated the teenager’s free speech rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as her First Amendment right to free exercise of religion, her rights to protection from unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment and her due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
