Student reaches $125K settlement after school erased her pro-Palestinian art

A former high school senior who had her pro-Palestinian art erased by officials at her school on Long Island has reached a $125,000 settlement nearly two years later.

While court documents obtained by Urgent Matter showed that the parties had agreed to dismiss the case, the details of the settlement were not included.

The news was first reported by The Handbasket, an independent news outlet run by the journalist Marisa Kabas, who revealed that Khan and the school district agreed to a $125,000 settlement without a signed non-disclosure agreement or an apology.

The Pakistani American student, identified in court documents with the pseudonym Jane Khan because she as then a minor, was a senior at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills when she received a designated parking spot on campus, according to the complaint obtained by Urgent Matter.

Paid subscribers can read the full documents.

Documents: Khan v. Half Hollow Hills Central School District

Records from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.

Urgent MatterAdam Schrader

The high school has a tradition where graduating seniors are allowed to paint their parking spots. Khan had painted hers with a watermelon with a keffiyeh pattern, Palestinian symbols also used by their supporters, as well as her name in Arabic and the phrase “Peace Be Upon You” in English.

After painting her parking spot, a local resident named Leslie Richard shared an image of it to a Facebook group on September 6, 2024, asking for “suggestions on how to demand it be removed.”

Khan was then called into the office of principal Michael Catapano first thing in the morning the following Monday, and she was questioned about the meaning of the artwork before being told that “some action would have to be taken.” Within days, officials had whitewashed her artwork.

In her First Amendment lawsuit, Khan’s lawyers noted students at the school had long been allowed to include political messaging in their artwork, including renderings of the Pride flag, the Black Lives Matter fist—and even the Betsy Ross flag, an early version of the American flag often adopted by extremist movements.

Yet, no other artwork had ever faced censorship.

“But Israel has held a privileged position in the school system and has repeatedly been lauded and endorsed by Half Hollow in various forums over the years,” Khan’s lawyers noted in her lawsuit.

Her lawyer detailed how the school featured a series of daily morning announcements with “fun facts” about Israel, while the school newspaper regularly shared Zionist blog posts and articles. The school even flew its flag at half-staff to support Israel after the war with Hamas broke out in October 2023.

“No half-staff displays or memorials have been sponsored or hosted by Half Hollow to honor or mourn the conservatively estimated fifty thousand innocent civilians – including  167 journalists and media workers, 1000 health care workers, and over 330 aid workers – killed in bombings and targeted in shootings by Israel in Gaza,” Khan’s lawsuit reads.

The school board then held a heated public meeting on September 16, 2024, during which it justified its decision to remove the artwork to maintain political neutrality.

However, just three weeks after that meeting, the school announced its support of Israel by again flying the flag at half-staff. Patrick Harrigan, then the school district's superintendent, resigned two weeks later.

Khan’s legal team filed the lawsuit in federal court in March 2025, and the case was heading into the discovery phase—which could have revealed potentially damaging communications between school officials and the Zionist community—when Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto of the Eastern District of New York recommended that they reach a settlement.

“My concern is that the school district has not been neutral, although they claim neutrality,” Matsumoto said in a June hearing. “They have not been neutral on issues that they posted on their website and decisions that they've made. And I think that the viewpoint discrimination is fairly clearly alleged.”

Matsumoto also questioned the school district’s argument that Khan’s art created “potential disruption” to the school environment.

“Well, when you permitted parking spaces to be painted with a Pride flag, did you request that opposing viewpoints against gay rights also be displayed? Or when you had a parking spot that said, ‘Black Lives Matter,’ did you also have an opposing viewpoint for that?” the judge asked.

“I don't think that the school board, frankly, or the school can have it both ways in terms of the viewpoint discrimination that is alleged here adequately, in my view.”

Follow along with other lawsuits at Urgent Matter's art lawsuit tracker.