A schoolgirl is challenging her school after she was suspended for bringing a cup of coffee into lessons. Julie Kaputa was returning to Beaver River Central School for her first day of her final year on September 3 when she encountered difficulties during her opening class.
Julie told WTVM: "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.'"
Internal suspension over beverage policy
Julie, who excels academically, received an internal suspension for breaching the school's external food and beverage policy. The regulation represents a fresh addition to the institution's behavioural guidelines for this academic year, designed to "create a safe, instruction-focused environment for all students."
However, Julie and her mother contend that the policy lacks legitimacy. They maintain that the new rule wasn't implemented properly by the school, claiming no public consultation took place regarding the matter.
Family questions policy adoption
"She 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," said MaryAnne Kaputa, Julie's mother.
"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," Julie said.
The mum took to Facebook to post about the incident after her daughter refused to dump her latte. Mary posted on Facebook: "Julie was put in ISS today for refusing to dump out a 'banned beverage' (a latte from moving mountains). I was called down to the school.
"Meeting minutes from both July and August (where the code may have been discussed) were never published to the website until today when I pointed it out to the District Office, and the district office had no record of a public hearing being conducted. Just wondering if anyone else saw it and I missed it," she asked.
The mother added: "I am certain that the school can not enforce a substantial change to the code of conduct without a public hearing."
Superintendent acknowledges communication gap
Superintendent Todd Green acknowledged that the school district conducted a monthly board meeting in August and that this was regarded as a public hearing. However after discussing matters with Julie he conceded the hearing wasn't adequately publicised, reports the Express US.
"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 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 explained that the new regulation had been introduced to foster a secure and distraction-free educational setting. The policy was incorporated into the school district's 2026-2027 Standards for Community-Wide Conduct. The regulation was announced prior to the academic year and covers middle school and secondary school pupils.
The school's district's policy on Food from Outside Vendors states: "The following food and drink guidelines help minimize distractions, protect students with food allergies, and promote a calm, equitable school experience."
"Students arriving with drinks or food will be asked to finish them before entering school," it adds. Julie was allowed to return to class with her coffee after school officials were questioned about the policy, her mother said.
"Glad that we have reasonable and rational administrators that are willing to listen....with some prompting..." she said.
Julie said she harbours no resentment towards the district, noting that the suspension won't appear on her permanent record, but explained that she wants things to function as they should.
A fresh public hearing is set to occur on Monday. Mary has stated: "They will be holding a public hearing at the next board meeting and asking several students to have input into rewriting this section of the code to address both the administrator and student concerns."
