Maryland

Cracker Barrel ‘refused service’ to special education students at Maryland restaurant, school says

Published

1 year ago

December 6, 2024

Press Room

Cracker Barrel ‘refused service’ to special education students at Maryland restaurant, school says

“I don’t have the option of being quiet about these things,” parent Stacey Campbell said after speaking out on the incident.

A field trip for special education students to a Cracker Barrel in Maryland this week has resulted in outcry from teachers and parents.

On Tuesday, a group of 11 students and seven staff members from Maryland’s Charles County Public Schools District were “refused service” at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Waldorf, Maryland, Superintendent Maria Navarro said in a statement. The outing was a part of community-based instruction for students at the district’s Dr. James Craik Elementary School. The instruction allows students in special education programs to perform practical skills and socialize with the public.

The Cracker Barrel general manager told teaching staff the restaurant “cannot accommodate to your group” and that the restaurant should be removed from the approved list of restaurants for community-based instruction, Charles County Public Schools special education teacher Katie Schneider told parents in an email, which has been shared online.

Stacey Campbell told USA TODAY that her autistic, non-speaking 9-year-old son, who goes by “JoJo,” attended the outing on Tuesday.

“I saw red,” Campbell said about when she read Schneider’s email.

“JoJo” attends Charles County Public Schools’ ACHIEVE, a regional program in Charles County that serves students in kindergarten through age 21 with “significant cognitive disabilities.” Students in the school district’s ACHIEVE and SOAR (regional program for students with Autism) programs attend community-based instruction outings once a month between November and May, Campbell said.

What happened at the Cracker Barrel?

In her statement, Navarro said Charles County Public Schools staff notified the Waldorf Cracker Barrel of the group’s size and purpose of its visit, but they were told reservations were unnecessary.

Though the group did not ultimately dine-in, the restaurant did permit the students and staff to place a carryout to-go order, Schneider said in her email to parents.

“During this time, the servers were blatantly rude to our staff and ignored all of our students, Schneider continued in her email. “Refusing to serve them, they did not even ask if our students wanted a drink or anything. Our students were so well behaved and sat at the tables patiently, which you know can be hard, waiting for their food and drinks to-go.”

After about an hour of waiting, Schneider said the students were moved to wait outside on the school bus. They ate the lunch back at the elementary school. Schneider did not immediately respond for comment about the experience when contacted on Friday afternoon.

In a statement provided to USA TODAY, Cracker Barrel said a “staffing challenge” led to impacting the group’s experience.

“At Cracker Barrel, we strive to create a welcoming environment for all our guests, and we understand that a recent visit by this group to our Waldorf location fell short of those expectations,” the statement reads. “A staffing challenge that day led to the closure of part of our second dining room, creating confusion that impacted the group’s experience. We take this matter seriously and are working directly with the group’s leadership to better understand what happened, extend our apologies and make things right.”

Parent organizes protest at Cracker Barrel

In response to this week’s events, Dustin Reed, whose 7-year-old daughter Madelynn attended the community-based instruction outing, has organized a protest to occur at the Waldorf Cracker Barrel on Sunday afternoon. Madelynn attends the districts’ SOAR program.

“I can’t put into words how I felt − anger, sadness and worry,” Reed told USA TODAY about learning of what happened at the restaurant. “I’ve battled wanting to protect (and) shield her from the world but not forgetting why we’re doing this. I’ve spent more time crying over her and praying she never has to experience this again.”

Reed said he hopes the protest sheds light on the fact that just because some children have different abilities, it doesn’t make them less than anyone else.

Screenshots of Schneider’s email, shared by Campbell in a public Facebook group, have garnered a lot of attention, with the post boasting nearly 300 shares, as of Friday afternoon. Campbell said she doesn’t have much of a social media presence, but she felt obligated to share her son’s experience.

“I don’t have the option of being quiet about these things,” Campbell said.

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.

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Maryland

Winds ease for a seasonable weekend in Maryland

Published

1 hour ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Winds ease for a seasonable weekend in Maryland

Happy Saturday, Maryland!

Today is the final day of fall and we’ll have more seasonable conditions and quieter weather this weekend.

Calmer weekend

Maryland’s peak wind gusts reached over 50 mph on Friday. As high pressure remains in control today (although it is moving offshore), we’ll have a couple of quieter days ahead the weekend.

Expect temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s on Saturday with much calmer winds. Sunshine mixes with clouds overhead, but we stay dry.

Tonight, we could have a few more clouds as a cold front approaches. Temperatures cool into the 20s and 30s again tonight.

Ravens-Patriots forecast

Winds pick up slightly again on Sunday, as gusts could surpass 20 mph during the day. Temperatures will be a few degrees warmer, reaching the upper 40s in some neighborhoods.

It’ll be cool if you’re heading to the Ravens game on Sunday night. Kickoff temperatures will be in the low 30s and drop into the 20s through game time.

It will be dry with mainly clear skies during the game.

Holiday travel

We are in the final countdown ahead of the Christmas holiday next week. Overall, it looks like weather will cooperate with your travel plans here in Maryland.

Outside of a low risk for a shower or two with the passing cold front tomorrow, it’s dry over the next couple of days.

Our next chance of rain will come Tuesday as a pair of fronts will pass through. A few snowflakes could mix with showers Monday night into Tuesday. Accumulations are not expected at this point.

Then, the First Alert Weather team will watch another chance for a few showers Wednesday into Thursday. Santa may need the windshield wipers as he moves through on Christmas Eve. He’ll check in with the WJZ First Alert Weather team for updated timing on the late-week chance of showers, just as you should!

Temperatures later in the week will also be warming. Wednesday will be in the mid to upper 40s with Thursday and Friday warming into the 50s. Cooler air returns for the final weekend of 2025.

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Maryland

Maryland dentist to serve 10 years for pill-splitting scheme with assistant

Published

13 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Maryland dentist to serve 10 years for pill-splitting scheme with assistant

A Baltimore County dentist was sentenced to 10 years in prison after illegally distributing an opioid to one of his former employees over the course of three years.

According to the Office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (OAG), Dr. Andrew T. Fried, DMD, a licensed dentist who owned a solo practice dental office in Nottingham, Maryland, pleaded guilty to the following charges in November:

one count of distributing narcotics
and one count of prescribing controlled dangerous substances outside the regular course of duties of a dentist and not within the standards of his profession related to controlled dangerous substances.

Dr. Fried prescribed Oxycodone without a legitimate reason to a former employee who worked as an assistant at Perry Hall Family Dental from April 2022 to May 2025.

Dr. Fried admitted that he and the former assistant would split the pills between themselves and that he purchased them weekly from his assistant, who got them from close family members, according to a press release from the OAG.

On Friday, AG Brown announced the charges, stating, “Every Marylander who sits in a dental chair should trust that they’re receiving competent, professional care…This sentence protects Dr. Fried’s patients from further unsafe treatment and eliminates a source of opioids in our communities.”

Baltimore opioid crisis

Oxycodone is a strong prescription painkiller that is classified as a Schedule II-Controlled Substance due to its risk of addiction, illness, and, in some cases, death.

The drug is meant to be distributed by healthcare professionals to treat moderate to severe pain when other pain medicines aren’t sufficient; however, the pills can, at times, be found on the street.

In 2019, police arrested a man after discovering 38 pills of suspected Oxycodone during a traffic stop in Glen Burnie.

In 2018, a licensed pharmacist pleaded guilty to distributing oxycodone in exchange for sexual favors.

Baltimore’s ongoing opioid epidemic is a priority for city leaders.

In October, city leaders met to discuss ways to address Baltimore’s open-air drug market after three mass overdose incidents had taken place in the Penn North neighborhood over a span of four months.

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Maryland

No. 7 Maryland routs winless Central Connecticut State 98-30 despite injury issues

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

No. 7 Maryland routs winless Central Connecticut State 98-30 despite injury issues

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Yarden Garzon scored 12 of her 25 points in the first quarter, and No. 7 Maryland routed Central Connecticut State 98-30 on Friday.

To the delight of the screaming kids in attendance for the team’s annual Field Trip Day game, Terrapins coach Brenda Frese wore a jersey with the number 67 on it before tip-off. Then Maryland nearly won by that margin.

The blowout was no surprise. Maryland entered the game as one of 12 unbeaten teams left in Division I, and Central Connecticut State was one of 10 without a victory. The Terps (13-0) scored the game’s first 10 points and led 39-14 after one quarter.

Garzon made four 3-pointers in the first period.

Oluchi Okananwa had 22 points and Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu, who appeared to hobble on her right leg before leaving the game in the fourth quarter, had 10 points and nine rebounds. Ozzy-Momodu said after the game she’s OK.

Lucia Noin led Central Connecticut State (0-11) with 12 points.

Maryland guard Saylor Poffenbarger has been dealing with an ankle injury, and she sat out Friday as a planned rest day before the team returns to conference play. The Terrapins have lost Lea Bartelme, Ava McKennie and Kaylene Smikle to season-ending knee injuries, and Bri McDaniel, who tore her ACL 11 months ago, now plans to redshirt this season.

After the Terps took a 64-18 lead, they attempted five straight 3-pointers before Garzon finally made one to gave Maryland exactly 67 points. That drew an excited response from the crowd, as expected.

Central Connecticut State: Hosts Long Island University on Jan. 2.

Maryland: Hosts Wisconsin on Dec. 29.

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