RUMFORD – A seventh-grade student at Mountain Valley Middle School was expelled this week by a unanimous vote of the SAD 43 board.

The action followed an hour-long hearing behind closed doors with the student’s parent, a friend, the student and middle school Principal Ryan Casey on Monday night.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin declined to provide details of the reason for the expulsion, except to say that the student, a boy, violated the district’s policy governing weapons and violence. The incident occurred on Friday, April 18.

The expulsion of a middle school boy for violating the district’s policy on weapons and violence is the second in as many weeks.

An eighth-grade boy was expelled by the board on April 28.

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

Although several suspensions at both the middle and high school occurred earlier in the school year, the two boys’ expulsions are the first two in 2008.