ANDOVER – After deliberating for about three hours, the SAD 44 school board Monday night voted to expel two Telstar High School students.

Contacted Tuesday in Bethel, Superintendent David Murphy refused to specify the sex or age of either student or to say what led directors to expel them.

According to the agenda, the board, meeting at Andover School, held separate disciplinary hearings and findings of facts before reaching decisions.

Starting 15 minutes after the board convened its meeting at 7:30 p.m., directors entered back-to-back executive sessions, entering and exiting closed doors several times before adjourning at about 10:30 p.m.

In other business, directors accepted the donation of thousands of dollars worth of Nautilus weight-lifting equipment from Sobo-Tech Fitness Inc. of Sidney, Murphy said. Sobo-Tech sells and services commercial-grade fitness equipment to schools, colleges and wellness centers throughout northern New England.

Telstar High School athletic director Jim Lunney said Tuesday night that Stanley Soboleski of Sobo-Tech bought the second-hand Nautilus equipment from Gold’s Gym in Bangor, which is refurbishing its fitness systems. Soboleski then donated eight muscle-toning machines to the Bethel high school.

“This is a huge boost for us,” Lunney said.

“It gives us good pieces of equipment. Weight lifting is one of the areas we’ve identified that we need work at. Our kids aren’t as strong as they should be, both boys and girls,” he added.

Lunney estimated the value of the equipment at more than $4,000.

All eight pieces would have been at Telstar by Tuesday afternoon had the rented delivery truck that Lunney was driving not broken down and stranded him for more than five hours on the road.

Instead, they hope to have the equipment in place sometime next week, then bring Soboleski to Bethel to teach physical education instructors and coaches how best to use the equipment, Lunney said.

“Hopefully, I think, this can be something where we can start a little more aggressive weight training. It’s a great opportunity,” he added.

Expected to arrive later this week, the eight individual stations are to be placed in the Telstar High School weight room. “Nautilus equipment is tough to come by, so this will be a good addition to the fitness room,” Murphy added.