New York student suspended over coffee policy dispute

A high school honors student in upstate New York was suspended on the first day — all because she brought a cup of coffee to class.

Julie Kaputa, a senior at Beaver River Central School in Beaver Falls, walked into class with a coffee cup in hand, not realizing that a rule against outside food or drinks had been added to the code of conduct over the summer break.

“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,’” Kaputa told WWNY.

Kaputa received an in-school suspension for the violation. The district had added the policy against outside food and drinks to this year’s code of conduct.

However, Kaputa and her family say the rule she violated isn’t actually valid.

“She said, ‘It says there’s supposed to be a public hearing. When was that? We never knew about it. Did they announce it?’ Julie’s mother, MaryAnne Kaputa, told the outlet. “And I said, ‘I don’t know, look.’ And we couldn’t find one.”

Kaputa said she isn’t upset with the district — and that her suspension won’t be on her permanent record.

Still, she’s pushing for greater transparency within the school district.

“There was no public hearing to discuss it. Transparency in government is a big thing that I care about a lot, and it just kind of struck me as odd that there wasn’t a public hearing,” she said.

Todd Green, the district’s superintendent, said the monthly board meeting in August was considered a public hearing. However, after talking with Kaputa, he agreed the hearing was not properly announced.

“It’s good to see students standing up for what they believe in. We really appreciate that. That often doesn’t happen,” Green said.

“We’re a school district. We’re trying to do the best we can throughout the 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.”

Green told the outlet the new rule was added to promote a safe and distraction-free learning environment for students.

A new public hearing is scheduled for Monday.