RUMFORD – A Mountain Valley Middle School eighth-grade boy was expelled following a 45-minute hearing at Monday’s SAD 43 board meeting.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin declined to provide details. He did say, however, that the expulsion was the result of a violation of the district’s policy governing weapons and violence.

The board voted unanimously on the expulsion. In addition to board members, Hodgkin, and the boy’s parents, also attending the closed hearing were middle school Principal Ryan Casey and middle school Assistant Principal Al Cayer.

Before the boy can be readmitted to school, his parents must petition the superintendent and convince the board that the behavior that caused the expulsion will not reoccur.

A second expulsion hearing on another middle school boy was postponed until the board’s May 5 meeting because the parents could not attend. The nature of the violation was not connected to Monday’s expulsion, said Hodgkin.

Although several suspensions have occurred during the school year, this was the first expulsion, Hodgkin said.

In other matters, the board learned that longtime alternative education teacher Steve McGinty was granted a transfer to the position of Mountain Valley High School art teacher. He will replace Chris Wing, who taught art at the high school. She retires at the end of the school year.

The board appointed SAD 21 buildings, grounds and transportation director Kenny Robbins to the same position at SAD 43. The two districts will begin sharing one person at the beginning of the next school year. He will spend 55 percent of his time for SAD 43 and 45 percent for SAD 21.

Mexico representative Betty Barrett was the only dissenting vote.

Also on Monday, middle school seventh-grade science teacher Lindsay MacMillan updated the board on plans to begin a vegetable garden at her school. Tentative plans call for possibly growing vegetables that would be tended by students throughout the summer, then supplying the school with fresh produce. The project fits with the science curriculum.

Hodgkin said MacMillan is seeking grants that could help fund the purchase of a greenhouse and other gardening items.