PEARISBURG -- The Giles County school board this afternoon unanimously decided to rehang copies of the 10 commandments at each of the county's schools following an outpouring of community support.

The religious texts were removed during December following a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation. An attorney for the foundation asked Dec. 8 for the district to remove the texts. Superintendent Terry Arbogast II said in a Dec. 17 reply that the district would comply.

But at today's school board meeting, hundreds of parents showed up to express their displeasure.

Eric Gentry, chairman of the county's board of supervisors, said the county would support the school board in court.

Rev. Dan Kelly at New Valley Fellowship in Narrows offered to pay for the re-framing and said the school board should be told by a judge to remove the documents.

Arbogast said he removed the 4-by-3-foot frames, which were hanging in the county's five schools plus the technology center beside a copy of the U.S. Constitution, after consulting with the county attorney. He said he had just heard reaction on the decision in the past couple of days from parents, who did not receive a formal notification of the change from the district.

"It wasn't a decision we took lightly," Arbogast said this afternoon. "It wasn't a decision based on our personal beliefs."