Ten Commandments moved from Valley High in New Kensington

The Ten Commandments monument no longer is in front of Valley Jr.-Sr. High School in New Kensington.

The monument apparently was removed sometime Tuesday afternoon but it has not yet been placed in front of Mary Queen of Apostles Catholic School along Freeport Road — its eventual destination, according to officials from both the Catholic school and the New Kensington-Arnold School District.

Exactly when the monument was removed and where it's being stored were not known nor is any date for installing the monument in its new location.

New Kensington-Arnold officials did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday and Mary Queen of Apostles officials said they haven't been updated on plans for the move.

The monument was the center of a lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation in 2012 on behalf of a woman who claimed the monument was offensive to her daughter, who attended Valley High School at that time.

The school district and the foundation last month reached a settlement in the suit, which required the monument to be removed and the district's insurance company to pay the legal fees in the case.

Superintendent John Pallone said previously that defending against the lawsuit cost the district $20,000 in insurance deductibles.

The Mary Queen of Apostles school is located in the former Greenwald Elementary School building at Freeport and Elmtree roads in New Kensington. Greenwald formerly was owned by New Kensington-Arnold but was closed in 2014 as part of a district restructuring.

It later was sold to the Catholic Dioceses of Greensburg for more than $500,000.

Matthew Medsger is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4675 or mmedsger@tribweb.com.