A settlement in the case of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school’s censorship of a student’s tribute to Charlie Kirk was announced by Alliance Defending Freedom Legal (ADFL) last month.
The case was settled for $95,000 in the case of G.S. v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.
The settlement also requires district officials to publicly exonerate the student and apologize, which they did in the following statement:
“The Board has settled the case of G.S., a minor v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. The Board has adopted a new Student Free Speech policy that addresses ‘spirit rocks’ and other expressive activities.
Although previously communicated to the community on October 11, 2025, the Board reaffirms and clarifies the following: The students’ painting of the Ardrey Kell spirit rock on September 14, 2025, did not violate the Code of Student Conduct or other school system policies in place at the time. It was not an act of vandalism, and the school did not report the incident to law enforcement. The Board regrets that the student had this experience.”
Additionally, the settlement directed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to strengthen its student free speech policy and for the school board to adopt a formal free speech policy, which it did on June 10.
The Backstory
ADFL filed the case on behalf of a junior at Ardrey Kell High School, after she received permission to paint a message on the school’s “spirit rock,” shortly after the assassination of Turning Point USA’s leader Charlie Kirk.
In its filings, ADFL counsel described the school’s actions as ‘viewpoint discrimination’ that punished a student for views school and district officials disliked.
The student, later identified as Gabby Stout, and others painted “Freedom 1776” and “Live Like Kirk—John 11:25,” a Bible verse which Kirk often used in defense of Christianity and free speech.
Within hours of the tribute being completed, Ardrey Kell High School officials ordered the Kirk portion painted over.
Ardrey Kell Principal Susan Nichols issued a message to families on Sept. 14 claiming the tribute was unauthorized, accusing Stout of vandalism in violation of the district’s code of conduct, and stating law enforcement was investigating.
Officials with the school later singled her out, pulling her from class for a “statement,” and examined her phone logs without parental permission or warnings about her rights.
The school also briefly adopted a restrictive speech policy that limited messages to those deemed to be “positive school spirit” and explicitly barred religious ones.
By mid-October, the district walked back Nichols’ statement that Stout had engaged in vandalism:
“On September 14, 2025, a communication was shared with families from Dr. Nichols. While this message was prepared by our Communications Division, it did not fully reflect the details as reported by Principal Nichols.”
CMS also did some damage control on Nichols’ rewrite of spirit rock usage, claiming that because the “incident did cause a disruption within our school community,” that Nichols had “responded by establishing guidelines for the use of the Spirit Rock.”
Ultimately, Ardrey Kell’s investigation was quietly closed with no findings of “vandalism.” At that time, the school and district offered no apology to the student.
The complaint against CMS highlighted other groups had been allowed to post political messages such as “Black Lives Matter,” with students were allowed to pose in front of the Spirit Rock depicting those types of messages.
More To The Story
Following his assassination, cases First Amendment cases similar to Stout’s cropped up, but which involving individuals cheering or celebrating Kirk’s death.
These settlements have often involved teachers, professors, or public employees who mocking or approving of Kirk’s murder, who were disciplined or fired amid public backlash, and then successfully sued on First Amendment grounds.
Two related free-speech settlements that involved Kirk content involve two teachers; one from Georgia and the other from Iowa.
Michelle Mickens, a Georgia teacher, saw a settlement upwards of $300,000 this year.
Mickens, a longtime high school English teacher and “Teacher of the Year” finalist posted a quote from Kirk about gun deaths being an unfortunate cost of protecting Second Amendment rights, along with comments about his death, on her private Facebook page.
Her post read, “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.- Charlie Kirk.”
The quote is real, but plucked out from a much broader set of comments made by Kirk during a TPUSA Faith event at Awaken Church in Salt Lake City on April 5, 2023. Kirk was explicitly making the argument that an armed society will never achieve zero gun deaths and the Second Amendment is a crucial way citizenry are protected from tyranny.
Mickens’ post was screen captured by one of her Facebook friends and it later went viral after it hit social media.
She was quickly placed on leave and pressured to resign or face termination, and later sued the Oglethorpe County School District alleging First Amendment violations. The parties reached a confidential settlement reported at roughly $270,000 for emotional distress plus attorney fees which dropped the total at around $300,000.
Ironically, The Southern Poverty Law Center, which is under federal indictment for bankrolling hate groups and their members and which put Kirk on it’s “hate map,” assisted in Mickens’ defense.
Melisa Crook, an Iowa high school English teacher, was awarded $145,000 plus benefits in her settlement which also occurred this year.
Crook taught at Creston High at the time she posted that Kirk was a “terrible human being” and saying Kirk being gone was a “blessing,” while simultaneously stating she did not wish death on anyone.
Crook’s post also made the rounds on social media and she faced termination, however a judge blocked her firing. She sued on free-speech grounds, obtained a temporary restraining order, but did not return to teaching after her settlement, which also included the district agreeing to a public statement on “respect for diverse opinions.”
More recently, a similar case was filed in North Carolina, involving Gaston County Public School’s teacher Holly Ackerman, who posted about Kirk’s death writing, “I can’t believe people are actually mourning this douchebag.”
Ackerman was a special needs teacher at Hunter Huss High School. The complaint was filed in the Western District of North Carolina on July 11.
An account on X called MayDay17 posted a copy of Ackerman’s post on X:
The post went viral with over 2.7 million views after it was re-upped on X by Libs of TikTok:
Per the complaint, the district’s superintendent notified Ackerman in writing on Sept. 23, 2025, that she was being recommending dismissal over the post which the superintendent said "has caused and continues to cause significant disruption” across the district.
A few weeks later, on Nov. 7, Ackerman was fired.
The filing by Ackerman’s attorneys claims she was “acting as a private citizen when she posted a comment about Kirk on Facebook” and that her post was made “because she disagreed with Kirk’s views on the Second Amendment and gun control, both of which are matters of public concern.”
The lawsuit notes Ackerman’s post came after seeing an acquaintance’s post about Kirk’s assassination, which made a similar reference Kirk’s 2023 Second Amendment defense as that of the Mickens case.
Per the complaint, Ackerman’s Facebook friend had posted a quote from Kirk, that read “It’s worth to have the cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment. Kirk made the comment following a 2023 school shooting in Nashville.”
Ackerman’s lawsuit also claims she “was careful not to discuss her political views in her classroom or at work,” and goes on to state “She had a private Facebook page that she used to keep in touch with friends and family. Ackerman was not ‘Facebook friends’ with any of her students or their parents. She generally avoided posting about her political opinions on her Facebook page.”
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