Student suspended for bringing coffee to class in act of 'civil disobedience'
NEW YORK - A high school senior's suspension for bringing coffee to class in Upstate New York has prompted the school district to acknowledge it bypassed procedural laws when adopting its new code of conduct.
What we know:
On the first day of classes, senior Julie Kaputa received an in-school suspension after bringing a cup of coffee to her first-period class, violating a new restriction on outside food and drinks.
"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 in a recent report.
The senior says she was "reluctantly" allowed to return to class with her drink after missing several classes, because her parents came to school to help explain her actions.
Act of ‘civil disobedience’
What they're saying:
According to a public statement Kaputa posted to Facebook, the violation was a pre-planned act of "civil disobedience" to challenge the policy because she determined the district's Board of Education had failed to comply with state law when passing the new code of conduct.
"I went to the website to review the new Code of Conduct due to the fact that the food and drink policy was strongly opposed by the majority of our senior class," Kaputa said.
While researching the rule, Kaputa noticed the district had not posted meeting minutes from its previous three board meetings. She also found that the board had not held a separate public hearing prior to adopting the new code.
"I felt strongly that the administration was acting outside 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 law agrees with this sentiment," Kaputa said.
District response
The other side:
Following the incident, Kaputa said that Superintendent Todd Green informed her parents that the district's legal counsel confirmed the board had missed the required step of holding a public hearing.
Green told WWNY that the district had considered its monthly August board meeting to act as the public hearing, but acknowledged after speaking with the family that the hearing was not properly announced.
"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 said, stating that the food and drink rule was originally implemented to promote a distraction-free and safe learning environment.
In response to the procedural error, the district updated its website with the missing meeting minutes, initiated a student and teacher committee to review the beverage policy's language, and scheduled a retroactive public hearing for September 14.
Frustrations continue
Dig deeper:
Despite the district's concessions, Kaputa expressed continued frustration regarding government transparency. She noted that as of September 9, the date public comments were due, the district still had not properly advertised the September 14 public hearing.
Kaputa stated she was advised that the district intended to place the public meeting announcement inside the regular meeting agenda, a move she characterized as an attempt to prevent public attendance and commentary.
"I'd like to make clear, that the specific policy, while important as it impacts the daily routine of all students, was not my main motivating factor," Kaputa said. "This new policy was overly broad, unenforcible, and open to wide interpretation and inconsistent implementation, which is how abuse of power has always started throughout history. 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."
The Source: Information from this article was sourced from a Facebook post by Julie Kaputa and a report by WWNY.