MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) – Middletown High School administrators suspended nearly 30 students for two days for an outdoor morning barbecue on school grounds this week.

Some of the students and their parents say they don’t understand the reason for the suspensions, which were imposed after the breakfast barbecue that began while school was in session at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in a school parking lot. They say all the students are seniors who didn’t have class until 9:30 a.m.

Suspended student Eddie Mangini pointed out that students were caught with bacon, not alcohol or drugs.

School Superintendent Michael Frechette referred questions to high school Principal Robert Fontaine, who didn’t immediately return a phone message Thursday.