Posted on 12/09/2024 10:14:35 AM PST by Morgana
A group of special-needs students was denied service at Cracker Barrel in Maryland, with the mother of an autistic boy expressing outrage after the restaurant's manager told them not to come back.
Stacey Campbell said her non-verbal son Jojo, 9, was refused sit-down service at the restaurant in Waldorf on Tuesday along with 10 other special-needs children.
Jojo was on the trip with his school's community-based instruction (CBI) program, which gives special-needs children the opportunity to go on field trips and participate in educational activities.
According to an email from a teacher, the kids and the seven adults with them were denied service at the Cracker Barrel even though they called beforehand to confirm they did not need a reservation.
The email said that the decision had nothing to do with the children's behavior and that the manager told the group not to come back for any future field trips.
'So, if you’re telling them to take us off the list, then they're not welcomed there. Why?' Campbell told WJLA.
The restaurant only allowed the group to place a to-go order and made the students sit in the back of the eatery, where they waited for more than an hour, the teacher's email said.
'We did take the food back to the school and the students enjoyed their lunch and were so well behaved,' it stated.
'I am however disappointed about this experience and am still stunned that this happened in a public setting.'
The email also noted that Cracker Barrel staffers were very rude to the group.
The concerned mother shared the letter on social media to bring attention to the situation, sparking hundreds of reactions.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Exactly.
That way, everybody gets fed.
or...
Chuck E. Cheese Waldorf
3241 Plaza Way
Waldorf, MD 20602
Probably and the restaurant doesn’t want to be part of the school program.
End of story .
Why is this national news.
He was with a group of special needs kids. Maybe all of the kids were misbehaving?
It sounds like they were waiting for carry out?
The kids were there as part of the program.
The restaurant said they don’t want to be part of the program anymore.
Why is this a problem?
“So 10 children and 7 adults descended on this joint and expected the same treatment as 4 coming for a meal. It’s a wrong venue fort kids....Pack a lunch and take them to a park.”
I realize what the class was trying to teach them.
Try MacDonalds. Then the kids can go to the playland inside the building afterward.
“So 10 children and 7 adults descended on this joint and expected the same treatment as 4 coming for a meal. It’s a wrong venue fort kids....Pack a lunch and take them to a park.”
I guess reading isn’t one of your skillets. The article states the school called ahead to confirm.
I'll bet everything I own that they never said there were 17....and I suppose they came at the busiest time, too.
7 supervisors for 10 kids?? and I only see a couple little kids.
ADA..
Americans with Disabilities Act.
I personally don’t like this law, as it does things like make a small business install elevators, wheelchair ramps and so on.
This includes mentally handicapped also.
Autistic qualifies.
They can’t be denied service.
Period.
That’s also how you get service dogs in your restaurant.
What it doesn’t say is...did they mention 17 people in their party...
I refuse to comment until more comes out. I suspect there is more to this story than meets the eye.
Many decades ago (young twenties) I had the miserable job of managing a fast food place.
It was amazing what could go wrong—often with zero warning.
:-)
They can’t be denied service, but, the restaurant can opt out of being part of the school program.
I don’t know what happened. (But 7 adults seems like a good number for 10 or 11 kids. I doubt they get even that in most special-needs classrooms.)
“That’s also how you get service dogs in your restaurant.”
Trained service dogs are more well behaved than most adults.
In my elementary school “special needs” meant out of control extremely violent students.
Chances are that it had more to do with the size of the crowd and trying to accommodate them than anything.
That’s a LOT of people to just show up and expect a place to sit and to have enough help to serve everyone.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.