Parents protest treatment of students at Maryland Cracker Barrel

Family members and protesters are set to gather Sunday afternoon at a Cracker Barrel in Maryland where a group of special education students received what the restaurant later called “unacceptable” service earlier this month.

The protest was organized by Dustin Reed, father of 7-year-old Madelynn. She was one of 11 special needs students who were turned away from eating at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Waldorf, Maryland during a field trip on Dec. 3, parents and school officials say. The protest is set to be held in the restaurant from 1-5pm EST Sunday December 15th.

More than 200 users have expressed interest in participating in the protest Facebookwhile countless users have commented in support of the affected students, parents and teachers. Users reporting to be anywhere from Chicago to Brazil have left a comment on the event.

“It’s helpful to see other people supporting and wanting to be a part of this,” Reed told USA TODAY on Wednesday. “But it’s also sad at the same time because reading and hearing all these people’s stories and hearing about what’s really going on and a lot of it doesn’t get talked about because there’s not enough media coverage or there’s not enough people who want to stand up for whoever needs a voice.”

Elise Horne, co-founder of the Charles County Autism & Developmental Disabilities Parent Support Group, told USA TODAY Thursday that she plans to attend Sunday’s protest. Horne has a 9-year-old, nonverbal autistic son who also attends the Charles County Public Schools District. Although he wasn’t on the field trip to Cracker Barrel, he also regularly participates in community-based instructional field trips.

“It’s very important to me that the organizations in my community understand and they get the message that it’s not okay to discriminate against my son’s community,” Horne said. “I really want to go so I can help send that message and I feel like there is strength in numbers and the more of us that show up the louder our voices will be. I stand in solidarity with these parents because it could have been my son.”

What happened?

Last Tuesday, a group of 11 students and seven staff from the Charles County Public Schools District visited the Waldorf Cracker Barrel. The field trip was part of community-based education, which allows special education students to practice practical skills and socialize in public.

Charles County Public Schools District special education teacher Katie Schneider informed parents in an email that the group was denied service. Schneider said the group was told the restaurant could not accommodate them and was asked to remove the site from an approved list of restaurants for such excursions.

The restaurant allowed students and staff to place a to-go order, Schneider said in his email. After waiting about an hour for the meals to be served, the students moved outside to the school bus to wait and eventually ate their lunch back at the elementary school, Schneider said.

The students attend Dr. James Craik Elementary School and belongs to the district’s ACHIEVE program for students with “significant cognitive disabilities” and SOAR program for students with autism.

Following last week’s events, three employees at the Waldorf Cracker Barrel were let go, a Cracker Barrel statement shared with USA TODAY said. An internal investigation was also initiated with guest and employee interviews.

“We strive to create a welcoming environment and a great experience for guests of all levels, and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination,” the statement said. “We did not deny service to this group of students, but operational disruptions caused by staff shortages and poor communication on our part caused us to fall well below our service standards that day. This is unacceptable.”

Greta Cross is a national trends reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Parents protest at Maryland Cracker Barrel over treatment of students