An upstate New York teen suspended for bringing a cup of coffee to class earlier this month told The Post she and other kids plan to flood a school-board meeting Monday to demand the rule be revoked.
Beaver River Central HS senior Julie Kaputa said school officials claimed the new reg was instituted to prevent kids from smuggling in booze or THC drinks.
“Personally, I believe that that point can be disproved simply because the administration was still allowing water bottles to be brought in,’’ she told The Post on Monday afternoon.
New York high school senior Julie Kaputa demands the district revoke a new rule after being suspended for bringing a coffee cup to class. Mary Anne Steiger Kaputa / Facebook
“You do not know what is in someone’s water bottle.”
The teen added that besides that, the rule wasn’t even passed with proper public input.
New York high school senior Julie Kaputa demands the district revoke a new rule after being suspended for bringing a coffee cup to class. Mary Anne Steiger Kaputa / Facebook
She said a new proposal will be pitched at Monday night’s board meeting to revert to the old policy that said “food and drink could not be ordered to the school but did not prohibit food and drinks being brought to the schools in the morning by the students.”
The teen said she expects “a good turnout’’ for the meeting and, referring to board members, added, “We’re hopeful that they will’’ agree to the request.
Kaputa got booted on the first day of school Sept. 3 over a latte she brought to class.
“I walked in, I had my coffee with me,’’ she told WTVM. “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 Kaputa said she was minutes into her last first day of school when a teacher confronted her over her Cup of Joe on Sept. 3 at Beaver River Central School in Castorland, NY. WWNY
The honors student ended up getting slapped with an in-school suspension over her drink, which the school said violated its Code of Conduct regulation that sought to “create a safe, instruction-focused environment for all students.”
“So after the first day of school Sept. 3, I had another meeting with two members of the administration, and they initiated a committee that is made up of myself, about five other students, two teachers, and one of one member of the administration,” she told The Post on Monday.
Kaputa argued the Beaver River Central School District adopted the policy illegally as there was no public hearing on the matter when the school board met in August.
“And we had two meetings, one to kind of talk out the issues that the administration had seen in the school and the issues that the students had seen with the new policy.
“In the end, the students proposed that we use the wording from the 2025-2026 policy,’’ she said.
“I hope what comes out of this is that students get involved in their local government and that they understand their rights,” Kaputa said.