On December 3, 2024, a group of 11 students with disabilities and seven staff members visited a Cracker Barrel joint in Waldorf, Maryland. Upon arrival, they were barred from entering the restaurant despite prior notice of the group's plans.
The school officials, parents, and the higher authorities were enraged after hearing this incident. They have contacted the district manager and Cracker Barrel representatives explaining their displeasure with the occurrence.
To all of this, the Cracker Barrel responded via TODAY.com,
"This group of students and teachers were, are, and always will be welcome to dine with us... We will make things right, and we look forward to earning back their trust and confidence."
Why did Cracker Barrel issue an apology?
The drama began on 3 December 2024, when a group of disabled students and staff went on a field trip to Cracker Barrel as a part of a community-based instruction (CBI) program. This program was meant to help the students learn certain life skills such as social interaction in retail shops and restaurants.
Before the trip, the staff contacted the restaurant with details of the program and the number of people present. They were told that they were not required to make any reservations for the visit.
However, when the day came, the group was denied entry into the restaurant. This information was obtained from a statement made by Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) superintendent, Maria V. Navarro, on 5 December 2024.
"Upon arrival, the students and staff were declined service and asked to no longer include the restaurant on its CBI list." - Navarro wrote.
The group was admitted into a closed section in the back of the restaurant while they were waiting for their takeaway.
A CCPS staff shared an email on Facebook which shed a little light on the incident. The CCPS worker mentioned that the staff were "blatantly rude" and "ignored" the students.
After talking to the general manager, they were told that the restaurant does not "accommodate this type of group." The situation escalated, leading the staff to contact the Cracker Barrel district manager. The district manager expressed their willingness to investigate and "to do better".
Parents on the Cracker Barrel incident in Waldorf, Maryland
The parents were not happy with what their children had to go through, understandably so. One of the parents, Dustin Reed, spoke to NBC affiliate WRC-TV in Washington on December 6, 2024, to express his thoughts.
"It broke my heart... Pushed off to the side and just not even paid attention to... Only thing they wanted to go in there and to do was eat some food and enjoy their time there and learn from it." Reed said.
Dustin Reed and Johnna Penrod have a 7-year-old daughter who is nonverbal. They have been trying to comfort her since the day of the incident.
Penrod shared a few sentiments with WRC-TV as well.
"Just because they have different abilities than we do doesn’t mean that they’re less than we are... They deserve to be treated like human beings, they deserve to be loved, they deserve to be cared for. They deserve to have morale given to them."
Cracker Barrel issues an apology to students
Cracker Barrel has issued an apology to the children for their behavior. A representative who spoke to TODAY.com said,
"Our missteps last week were unfortunate but were unrelated to the students’ capabilities... Our failure to follow certain operational protocols combined with poor communication on our part then led to misunderstandings and misperceptions."
However, the parents are not happy with how Cracker Barrel responded. Reed still believes that the "children’s civil rights” were “blatantly ignored and disregarded".
While Penrod adds,
"There’s nothing that a district manager or someone in their HR department is going to say that is going to fix this. The damage is done... This isn’t ‘Oh, I stepped on your toe in the movie theater, I apologize.’ This isn’t that type of thing that you can just sweep underneath the rug with an ‘I’m sorry,’ in my opinion".
Trending
As a response to this discrimination, Reed has planned a protest in the Cracker Barrel factory at Waldorf, Maryland. The protest is happening on 15 December 2024. 75 people have responded and are interested in joining the protest. Many individuals are supportive and have vowed to stop going to the restaurant.
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