WATCH: Student wins $95,000, exoneration from school district case after painting rock for Charlie Kirk

A North Carolina high school student will receive $95,000 and an apology after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools wrongly censored her for painting a school “spirit rock” in honor of Charlie Kirk.

Gabby Stout and two other students painted the stone at Ardrey Kell High School after Kirk was assassinated in September. Stout got permission from a school official, writing “Live Like Kirk,” “Freedom 1776” and “John 11:25” in red, white and blue on the rock.

But school officials reversed course, painting over the rock and calling her act “vandalism” in an email sent to the school community. This was despite the district approving messages related to Black Lives Matter and similar causes from other students.

Following a federal lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, the district agreed Monday to the settlement and to adopt a new student free-speech policy.

“She wanted to memorialize him and she wanted to express a message of hope and faith, reminding folks that even though he had been killed because he was a Christian, he had hope for eternal life through Jesus Christ,” Travis Barham, Stout’s attorney, told WBTV.

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