By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

PARIS – The SAD 17 Board of Directors has voted unanimously to expel a 15-year-old male student from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School for allegedly bringing an illegal drug to the school and possessing a weapon on school grounds.

School officials, who expelled the teenager on Monday, said the weapon was not a firearm, but declined to identify the type of weapon. They also declined to identify the illegal substance.

SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman said Tuesday that the substance-abuse charge involved possession, not trafficking or furnishing. The incident occurred in June 2005.

A student is expelled for an indefinite amount of time unless there’s a federal firearms charge. The student must apply for a hearing before the board of directors in order to be readmitted.

Also on Monday, board members voted unanimously to readmit a male eighth-grader who had been expelled in June 2004. The incident that led to the expulsion involved “harassment and threatening” by the student of another student and a teacher, Eastman said. There was no weapon or physical violence involved, he said.

The student had been required to complete a readmission plan in order to be readmitted to Oxford Hills Middle School. At the completion of the plan, board members had to determine that the student’s behavior was not likely to recur.

Board members conducted two closed-door sessions before publicly voting on the expulsion and the readmission. The board’s actions were unrelated to the one-year expulsions in June of two male high school students who were charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm on school property. Charges were later dropped against one of the two 15 year-old boys.