NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. – Atheists at the Freedom From Religion Foundation prevailed in a years-long legal battle to force the New Kensington-Arnold School District to remove a granite monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

FFRF sued the school district on behalf of resident Marie Schaub in 2012 based on allegations the 6-foot-tall stone Ten Commandments monument at Valley Junior-Senior High School offended her daughter.

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Schaub removed her daughter from the school, and a federal judge dismissed the case in July 2015, only to be reinstated again a month later by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the Tribune-Review reports.

On Tuesday, district officials announced a settlement agreement with FFRF that requires the Ten Commandments to be removed from the school by March 17.

“In order to take the high road, as they say, we compromised and agreed to remove the monument,” superintendent John Pallone told the news site.

The monument was donated to the school district by the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1956 and has greeted students near the gym entrance ever since, WPXI reports.

In addition to its removal, NKASD must also pay $163,500 in legal fees, which includes a $40,000 chunk to the FFRF.

“We’re very pleased,” FFRF staff attorney Patrick Elliott told the Tribune-Review.

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“It means that the Constitution is being followed by the school district,” he alleged.

Schaub used the settlement as an opportunity to lecture her neighbors.

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“It’s unfortunate that many people in my community don’t understand or appreciate the separation of church and state, but I hope this settlement serves as an important lesson,” she said.

Pallone believes the district was on sound legal ground to display the monument, but said the lawsuit was an expensive distraction.

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance that these opportunists forced the district into a situation where we had to make this decision,” he said. “These plaintiffs and their lawyers basically made a mockery of the judicial system.”

“We’re in a position where we just can’t continue to fight this distraction,” he said.

Pallone said NKASD will move the monument off of school property, but officials haven’t settled on a final resting place. Several residents have already volunteered to display the Ten Commandments on private property.

“It will likely be more prominent,” he said.

FFRF, meanwhile, continues to pursue similar cases at schools across the country in a quest to purge all references to religion from public life.

“The foundation also was involved in a similar case, leading to the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from outside Connellsville Area Junior High School in 2015,” WPXI reports. “That marker, also originally erected by the Eagles group, was reinstalled on the grounds of nearby Connellsville Church of God, making it visible to anyone who approaches the school.”