Julie Kaputa received an in-school suspension tied to the coffee ordeal
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NEED TO KNOW
- A high school student received an in-school suspension for bringing a cup of coffee to class and refusing to throw it out
- The rule banning outside food and drinks was a new addition to the code of conduct this school year
- The school will now be holding a public hearing to address the issue
A high school student was suspended on her first day of class for bringing a coffee and refusing to throw it out when told she had to.
Julie Kaputa received an in-school suspension after walking into a classroom at Beaver River Central School in Castorland, N.Y., with the beverage on Sept. 3, WWNY reported.
“I walked in, I had my coffee with me. I got to my first period class, and my teacher said, ‘I’m either going to need you to dump that out or consume it on the spot, or go down to the office,’ ” the high school senior told the outlet.
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Julie, an honors student, said the incident happened on the first day of the school year, following the addition of a new code of conduct banning outside food and drinks.
However, the student and her mother, MaryAnne Kaputa, claim that the rule was not introduced properly. They said the school is meant to hold a public hearing before enforcing new procedures.
MaryAnne told WWNY that her daughter said, “It says there’s supposed to be a public hearing. When was that? We never knew about it. Did they announce it?”
“And I said, ‘I don’t know, look.’ And we couldn’t find one,” she continued to the news outlet.
Julie said her suspension won’t reflect on her permanent record.
Superintendent Todd Green released a statement on Sept. 10, explaining that the school district’s monthly board meeting in August was considered a public hearing. However, he admitted that many may not have been aware of the event.
“While our annual review process mirrors a public hearing in practice, we acknowledge the advance notice did not explicitly contain the phrase ‘Public Hearing,’ and that the public may not have realized they were entitled to speak on the Code of Conduct before action was taken by the Board,” he wrote in the statement.
“Because we hold ourselves to the highest standard of compliance, we are correcting this administrative detail,” Green added.
The superintendent told WWNY, “It’s good to see students standing up for what they believe in.”
“We really appreciate that. That often doesn’t happen. We’re a school district. We’re trying to do the best we can throughout this process. We know there’s open meeting laws. We try to follow that. If things get pointed out that we need to do and change or fix, we’ll do that,” he added.
Green said the new rule was put in place to enhance the learning environment.
A next public hearing will be on Monday, Sept. 14.
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MaryAnne said in a Facebook post that the new rule states that students “arriving with food or drinks will be asked to consume it before entering the school.”
The policy for the previous school year banned food deliveries unless approved or ordered by a staff member, the parent wrote, adding that it had no restrictions on students bringing in food and beverages to consume during school hours and during extracurricular events.
“Petitions are circling locally as many students, staff and parents find this rule to be overly restrictive and unenforceable,” MaryAnne said in her social media post.
She claimed in another that the notes from the July and August board meetings were not shared on the district’s website until she asked about it.
MaryAnne also said Julie “knew the rule” that led to her suspension, explaining, “She politely refused the request as a form of civil disobedience to draw attention to the school’s multiple Open Meeting Law violations. She picked the coffee as her fight because as the Student Body President she had the support for all of her classmates on this issue.”
The school eventually let Julie return to class with her coffee, according to the mom.
PEOPLE reached out to MaryAnne and River Central School for comment on Sunday, Sept. 13, but did not immediately hear back.
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