CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) - A Charlotte student sued her school board Monday, claiming it falsely opened a criminal investigation into her after she got permission to paint a Charlie Kirk tribute on school property. 

Identified in her suit as G.S., the high school junior said Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system officials painted over her work on Ardrey Kell High School's spirit rock within hours and contacted law enforcement and accused her of vandalizing the rock the next day. 

The school board closed the criminal investigation against her within three days, G.S. says, and has falsely claimed it had never investigated her. 

G.S., who is suing through her parents Steven and Kristen Stout, says she got permission from school officials at Ardrey Kell High School before painting the school spirit rock in tribute to Charlie Kirk: a heart, the U.S. flag, and the messages "Freedom 1776" and "Live Like Kirk-John 11:25." A vase with flowers in it was placed at the base of the rock. 

"Defendant and its officials censored G.S.'s speech, publicly accused her of a crime and of a student conduct violation, forced her to provide evidence in a criminal investigation, devised policies to restrict her speech in the future, and refused to exonerate her publicly even after they all concluded that she had done nothing wrong," the plaintiffs write in their lawsuit. 

G.S. says she called the school on Sept. 12 and was told by a school official that she could not paint profanity, a political message or anything vulgar on the rock. G.S. told the staff member that she wanted to paint "something USA themed" and "something for Charlie Kirk who recently passed," and says the official told her "that would be very nice." 

G.S. claims in the suit that she wrote the phrases to show admiration for Kirk's steadfastness in his faith and his patriotism, not to be political. She was told second-hand that school officials painted over it hours after she finished.

The next week, the school principal contacted her parents to tell them the rock had been painted with a message "that was not authorized," that the school considered it an act of vandalism, and that it had contacted law enforcement. G.S. was pulled out of class by staff to write a statement about painting the rock and for an assistant principal to go through her phone logs, which the plaintiffs call a violation of her civil rights. 

The suit does not mention G.S. ever speaking with law enforcement officers. 

G.S. was not advised of her rights in a criminal investigation, the plaintiffs claim, and despite the school principal telling plaintiffs that they had closed their criminal investigation and would not take any disciplinary action against G.S., students have labeled G.S. as "the girl that painted the rock."

The next month, after the plaintiffs pushed for the school to release a statement clearing G.S. of wrongdoing, the school district sent out an email to parents saying that the painting was not vandalism or a violation of the student code or conduct. Law enforcement was also not contacted to conduct an investigation, the school district said in the email, which the plaintiffs argue is not true. 

"This statement does not change the fact that defendant's officials compelled G.S. to prepare a written statement summarizing her rock-painting efforts and searched her phone to corroborate her account - all without advising her of her constitutional rights," the plaintiffs say in the suit. 

G.S's principal, the school board of education representative for her district and the school district's communications department did not reply to multiple requests for comment made outside of normal business hours. 

The plaintiffs claim violations of the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment and 14th Amendment, and ask for a judgment eliminating the new painting policy, removing any negative information about the investigation from G.S.'s student records and a letter of apology.  

Source: Courthouse News Service