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The "better way" is to get rid of zero-tolerance policies in schools, to train teachers to use common sense instead of forcing them to take teenage hoaxes seriously.
For the family's part, the "better way" is to stay in town and prove you are a valued part of the community, instead of uprooting and moving to a country that enforces Sharia Law and doesn't educate girls. Also, to acknowledge that your embarrassment and inconvenience, while both embarrassing and inconvenient, are not worth $15 million dollars.
Shortly post-9/11, the comedian Dave Attell got removed from an airplane because someone thought he looked too Arabic (he's Jewish.) You know what he did? Nothing. He was embarrassed, inconvenienced, and he didn't try to get $15 million dollars out of it.
Recently a white police officer (in Detroit, I believe,) was faced with an increasingly hostile situation with a group of teens on a street corner. Rather than escalate, she engaged in a dancing contest with one of the teens and defused the situation.
There are a million other examples. All hot-button situations are better when they are defused, not escalated. Prove that you are better than the Other Guy's opinion of you, and he will start to believe it. Retaliate, and you've made it worse.
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