Cracker Barrel dismisses 3 workers after 'unacceptable' handling of special education students

A general manager and two other employees were dismissed from a Cracker Barrel in Waldorf, Maryland, after the restaurant sparked outrage over its treatment of special education students who were visiting on a field trip.

Charles County Public Schools District Superintendent Maria Navarro said in a statement last week that a group of 11 students and seven staff members were "refused service" at Cracker Barrel. The group was told the restaurant couldn't accommodate them and was asked to remove the location from an approved list of places for such field trips, special education teacher Katie Schneider told parents in an email.

Dismissing the workers from the company was the "best path forward," a spokesperson for Cracker Barrel said in a statement to USA TODAY, adding that senior executives on Monday met with district leadership, teachers and parents to discuss how the group was treated at the restaurant.

The students, who attend Dr. James Craik Elementary School, belong to the district's ACHIEVE program, for students with "significant cognitive disabilities" and the SOAR program, for students with autism.

The visit was a part of the school's community-based instruction, which allows students to perform practical skills and socialize with the public, outside of the classroom.

Parents have organized a protest at the restaurant, set to occur this weekend, and the Waldorf Cracker Barrel has been flooded with negative reviews on Yelp. Individuals from across the country have also taken to social media to share their support for affected parents, with some expressing plans to "boycott" the franchise.

More: Cracker Barrel 'refused service' to special education students at Maryland restaurant, school says

Cracker Barrel calls service 'unacceptable,' opens internal investigation

In a statement provided to USA TODAY, Cracker Barrel pushed back on Navarro's claim that the school group was refused service at the restaurant, adding that a staffing shortage led to the closure of the restaurant's second dining room.

The restaurant permitted the students and staff to place a to-go order, Schneider and Navarro said. After about an hour of waiting for carryout meals, Schneider said the students moved to the school bus outside to wait and ate their lunch back at the elementary school.

"Poor communication on our part led us to fall well short of our service standards that day. This is unacceptable," the statement read. "We strive to create a welcoming environment and great experience for guests of all abilities, and we have a zero-tolerance policy against any form of discrimination."

The statement also announced Cracker Barrel had removed three employees who worked at the location, including the general manager and opened an internal investigation with guest and employee interviews.

Yelp disables reviews of Waldorf restaurant

Since making headlines, the Waldorf Cracker Barrel has received an influx of negative reviews on Yelp. As of Tuesday afternoon, Yelp had disabled reviews of the restaurant. When visiting the restaurant on the Yelp website or app, users receive an "Unusual Activity Alert" pop-up message. The alert was set by Yelp on Monday, a Yelp spokesperson said.

"This businesses recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news," the pop-up reads. "While we don't take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we've temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual customer experiences rather than the recent events."

Several reviews referencing the incident with the Charles County Public Schools group were still active on the restaurant's Yelp profile on Tuesday, with many of them deriding the business for its treatment of the group.

A Yelp spokesperson said after activity involving the Waldorf Cracker Barrel dies down, Yelp moderators will "clean up" the business' page and re-enable reviews.

Organized protest gains attention

In response to last week's events, Dustin Reed, whose daughter attended the outing to Cracker Barrel, organized a protest to occur at the Waldorf Cracker Barrel on Sunday. As of Tuesday, 113 Facebook users had responded to the protest, called #CanWeEatNow.

But even more Facebook users have left their support for the protest in the discussion section of the protest's Facebook Event page. Users who report being anywhere from Chicago to Brazil have left a comment on the event.

This story has been updated to add Cracker Barrel's most recent statement and to clarify its attribution.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cracker Barrel removes 3 workers after incident with special ed. group