Julie Kaputa said she hopes the experience will encourage young people to pay attention to local politics

NEED TO KNOW

• Julie Kaputa, an upstate New York high school senior, was placed on in-school suspension on Sept. 3 for bringing a cup of coffee to class and refusing to throw it out
• The rule prohibiting outside food and drinks was a new addition to the code of conduct this school year
• In a Facebook post later shared on Sunday, Sept. 13, Julie clarified what prompted her action

An upstate New York high school student who was suspended on her first day of class for bringing a coffee and refusing to throw it out said she was practicing “civil disobedience.”

Julie Kaputa received the suspension after walking into a classroom at Beaver River Central School in Castorland, N.Y., with the beverage on Sept. 3, per CBS affiliate WWNY.

“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,’ ” Julie, a high school senior, told the outlet.

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. In a Facebook post later shared on Sunday, Sept. 13, she clarified what prompted her action.

She wrote that she and several other students became aware that the school board voted on the new code about the food and drink policy on Aug. 10, which the majority of her senior class disapproved of. As she was researching the changes, she discovered that the school had not posted meeting minutes from the previous three board of education (BOE) meetings. 

“I was able to find a copy of the new code tucked into the August 10th agenda,” Julie wrote,  “but it did not outline which parts had been changed. As a result of this, I sat down and read through the Code of Conduct. I realized that [the] BOE is required to hold a [separate] Public Hearing to change [the] code of conduct, which they had not done.”

At an open house held the night before the first day of school, she wrote, Julie told her homeroom teacher in advance that she intended to “practice civil disobedience” that day so as to not disrupt the class. She added that her parents spoke with the vice principal, the superintendent and the president of the BOE to explain her position. 

“We were informed that I would be sent to the office if I refused to dump out my beverage,” Julie further wrote. “I felt strongly that the administration was acting outside of their purview, as without a Public Hearing, students, parents, and teachers did not have a chance to voice their opinions prior to the adoption of the new code. NYSED [New York State Education Department] law agrees with this sentiment.”

She recalled being placed on in-school suspension after practicing her act of civil disobedience in a polite and respectful manner until one of her parents arrived and reiterated their position. After missing several of her morning classes, Julie wrote, “The administration reluctantly allowed me to return to class with my drink.”

Julie added that the superintendent reached out to her parents and let them know that the school’s attorney had confirmed that the BOE had overlooked holding a public hearing. While some changes were instituted, including the posting of the missing meeting minutes, Julie claimed that the school had not yet advertised a new public hearing for Monday, Sept. 14 — even though the school told her that public comments were due on Sept. 9 for that school board meeting.

PEOPLE reached out to Julie but did not immediately hear back.

“This felt like a direct attempt to prevent the public from attending and speaking at the board meeting on the 14th,” Julie alleged. 

Julie also wrote that NYSED law states that a public hearing is a district process separate from a regular board meeting. “I was advised [that] their intention was to put the public meeting announcement into the agenda for the regular meeting, which again tucks the announcement into a place where no one would see it,” she said, which prompted her to speak to the media. 

She concluded in her post that the new code was overly broad, unenforceable and open to wide interpretation. “I would hope that this encourages students to pay attention to local politics, read documents before signing them, and get curious about their civic rights and responsibilities,” she wrote. 

PEOPLE reached out to Beaver River Central School District Superintendent Todd Green on Monday, Sept. 14, but did not receive immediate comment. In a Thursday, Sept. 10, statement, Green explained that the school district’s monthly board meeting in August was considered a public hearing. However, he acknowledged 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 shared.

“Because we hold ourselves to the highest standard of compliance, we are correcting this administrative detail,” Green added. 

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The superintendent told WWNY, “It’s good to see students standing up for what they believe in.”

Julie’s mother, MaryAnne, wrote in a Friday, Sept. 11 Facebook comment that her daughter “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.”

On its website, the school district posted that a public hearing was scheduled for Monday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. about the student code of conduct.

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