School superintendent who posted Ten Commandments placed on leave

(RNS) A Missouri superintendent who posted a Ten Commandments plaque in a school cafeteria has been placed on leave after saying he would not follow religious expression laws.

School board members approved the administrative leave without pay for Humansville, Mo., Superintendent Greg Thompson by a 6-1 vote on Aug. 11, the Associated Press reported.

Officials declined to say whether he would remain as an employee of the school district.

Thompson hung an 11-inch-by-14-inch plaque shortly after he was hired six years ago. In March, resident Carrie Roat argued in a federal lawsuit that the plaque violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

In July, the school district in southwestern Missouri agreed to pay Roat $45,000 and to stop displaying religious symbols. The settlement, whose wording is not final, still needs to be approved by a court.