Is banning an ENTIRE school from a restaurant legal?

I live in Indiana and after school, a lot of kids go to McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. We have a lot of after school activities/basketball games, and kids need to go somewhere not way expensive to eat. However, a few kids disrupted the restaurant, acting out (like some childish, immature people do. You just can't change that- there are some in every school.) McDonald's decided to ban the ENTIRE school for the act of a handful of high school kids.
When a couple of friends and I went into the restaurant a few days ago, we were told by either the manager or supervisor that we had "no civil rights" and that they were obligated to serve the "white customers", etc. They wouldn't even serve us so we could get our food and leave! We were some of the most well-behaved, polite people there. Is this even legal??? I feel as if I'm being descriminated against, stereotyped by the behavior of a few students at my school.
Additional Details
I know it's late to make a remark now, but I have to add a few things just in case.
We never once got an attitude, yelled, or anything. We never spoke a word of "we have civil rights therefore..." etc. They brought it up themselves, saying we didn't have any. They seriously did say after that "Now, we have _white_ (wish I could italicize instead) customers." The policeman in the restaurant even thought that it wasn't right. He was on our side, actually...but he didn't do much about it.
Sure, some people use "civil rights" as an excuse to act like idiots, but we (as in my friends and I) never once abused those two words.
Maybe it is legal for them to ban us, but I find it offensive that they were so discriminatory and rude to us, when we weren't the trouble makers.

photog

The owners/manager of a restaurant can bar anyone they like.

You know you hate me

I highly doubt they said the only serve "white customers". You realize pulling the race, you immediately lose credibility. A restaurant is a business, a business can refusee service to anyone if they disrupt the peace and function of the premises. They have every right to refuse service.

darwinsfriend3 AM

A restaurant can refuse service to anybody.They don't have to give a reason.

Lurch

It is legal for a privately owned business to refuse service to anyone.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just stating that it is legal.

linda m

I don't know about in America, but our entire school got banned from our local Spar store (the English version of 7-11 stores), because of a few kids shoplifting.

We complained to various people, but were told that the store was within its rights to ban anyone it likes, and there was nothing we could do about it!!

Like I said, this was in England..... Im fairly sure you Americans have more rights than we do....... good luck x

latifah g

Although it is wrong to stereotype a group of kids by someone else's actions it is legal. The manager of that Mickey D's has the right to not serve anyone they want to. Especially if they are acting up in a behavior that is unbecoming of the restaurants way and if it does not attract other customers. Sorry you had to hear it but unfortunately it is legal. Just try to find another fast food place to eat after school.

jsmack19

You can absolutely ban all the kids from the school, however not based on race. So what happened? Was there disruptions or did they not serve you because you are not white?

Sweetharttt

They have the right to deny service to anyone. That group of students behaving childishly may have caused a lot of damage to the building. Nothing illegal about what they are doing.

trooper

as a law enforcement officer if the students are in school then the principal has the right to ban them not mcdonalds it self. thats something mcdonalds should talk to the principal about. but the students (if the principal hasnt said anything to them) are still allowed to go eat at that resteraunt. unless of course its the person who owns all of the McDonalds in that district then u have to do what they say.

Static

A restaurant has the right to refuse service to anyone that it chooses. Any statement that they are there to serve "white customers" would be very surprising, and it is difficult to believe that these words were actually spoken by them. The fact that you say they said you had "no civil rights" makes me think that you started out by yelling something about your civil rights to get them to say this. That said, while it is certainly true that a restaurant has the right to refuse service, I would find it strange that they would turn away so many prospective customers (and their money) for, as you say, the act of a handful of kids. It may be that the management of the restaurant is not taking you seriously because you are a kid. I don't know. If the issue is that important to you, discuss it with one of the administrators at your school (principal, vice-principal, etc) and let them approach the managers of the restaurant to get it resolved.

XXXXX

If it was an issue of race, since he said specifically "white" customers than that is illegal

Time to sue!

hoovarted

"we were told by either the manager or supervisor that we had "no civil rights" and that they were obligated to serve the "white customers", etc."
Oh... I'm sure that happened. McDonalds only serving white customers.
Sure... Happens all the time!!
That's the problem with McDonalds... Not enough black customers.
Here's the diddly doo sportaroo. Most black children have the McDonalds' menu memorized by heart.
How about this? Should a restaurant be allowed to ban an ENTIRE school full of children who think acting like idiots is part of their civil rights? Or, how about this one? Should the owner of a restaurant have to babysit a bunch of kids?

Jennifer

How do they know what school you go to? Just say you go to a different school when they try to kick you out. If it really was the race issue, that is illegal (it's probably illegal to ban anyone, except maybe banning everyone under a certain age without an adult or something).

Zach L

I'd get in contact with Corporate McDonald's.

I doubt Corporate would agree with that certain unit's actions if what you describe is accurate. Even if they don't care about your rights, they care about the bad message one of their stores is sending out. And a bad image means less profit.

Axel D

That's not even a wise thing to do for a Capitalists network like McDonald. That's an act of Racial Discrimination.

Diana B

Short of a few reasons based on suspect classifications like race or religion, a private establishment is given significant power to exclude who they want.

"I feel as if I'm being descriminated against, stereotyped by the behavior of a few students at my school."
I find this question difficult to accept - it sounds like the restaurant wanted to ban all students because of a few bad ones, which could be unfair, but seems easy to understand. Depending on how many a "few" is, and how disruptive they were, it's either reasonable or unreasonable to act as they did.

The race possibility seems harder to accept unless the school is principally black and there were no adult black customers, either possibility being hard to believe by itself, let alone together.

"You just can't change that- there are some in every school."
McDonalds doesn;t have to change that, and since we can agree that they won't be able to, they don;t have to accept it either. And since we can agree that customers can not change your unruly classmates, nor must they accept them but can find another place to spend money, McDonalds is thus faced with the choice of either making an arguably broad exclusion of students or lose other customers. The law allows private businesses that option.

J K F

Well, unless you want to take your own money and hire an attorney and take this to Court.

Used to be in the 'old days' there was a sign in a lot of restaurants, usually greasy spoons that read, 'This Establishment Reserves The Right To Refuse Service To Anyone.'

Don't know if its still legal. Every see the movie 'Giant' with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson & James Dean? At the end of the movie, Rock Hudson gets into a fight with the owner of the diner, a man called, 'Sarge.' Sarge refuses to serve them because Rock Hudson's grandson in the movie is half Mexican, (his entire family is in the diner for this scene) Rock Hudson takes exception to this and Sarge shows him the sign,'We Reserve The Right Not To Serve Anyone.'

Sarge & Rock get into a verbal fight that escalates into a physical fight. Sarge beats up Hudson and then tosses the sign on Rock's chest. Oh well.

Could it be legal based on the following?

1. Freedom is all about the right to say NO in one's place.
2. Property is protected by walls, and in U.S. by laws.

You can go on line and Do one of those 'Ask An Attorney" websites. A lot of them are free. I don't know really. At one time it was legal not sure about now. Banning an entire High School sounds like over-kill to me.

Did you speak to your parents about this? Maybe it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of your school during a PTA meeting.

there is not a specific law saying you cant ban an entire school however they can and should only ban those kids that did the prank or whatever they shouldnt ban u that is discrimination especially the comment they made if you wanted to get serious about it you could file a report and tke it to court

heatherfacee

if i were you.. i wouldnt even WANT to go to that restaurant again.
and they obv. just lost a lot of money. that was stupid.

and no. they cant do that.

PuNk RoCkEr

That is just wrong in so many levels. I encourage you to talk to your parents and the school about this issue. If you didn't do anything then you should still be allowed to go there. Man, that just pisses me off. Good luck :)

lil' book nerdo:))

isn't that a little racist??

â™¥â˜†Mrs. Roseâ˜†â™¥

I would definitely sue them! They can't do that! Or you could go through the drive through.

McDonald's corporate headquarters is about 10 minutes from my house. Whenever my husband and I have a bad experience at any McDonalds, we just say that we are from the headquarters and we are going to contact the DM or something to that effect. They usually shut up and do what we say. lol.

XdeathwarmedupX

no its not leagal at all. you cant ban an entire group of people. only the ones whe disrupted the place. i would call mcdonalds hedquarters and report them.

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