In response to the large number of students that visit Giant every day, the managers at the Georgetown Square Giant, with the collaboration of the Walter Johnson administration, formed a policy in late August stating that only 25 students could be allowed inside Giant at once.
A security guard at Giant’s front doors hands students yellow passes that permit them to enter. Once 25 students have entered, students quickly form a line outside Giant to obtain a pass.
“They go in, they get whatever they need, and they come back out, and then every time someone comes out, somebody else gets to go in,” Principal Jennifer Baker said.
Administration and Giant representatives believe that the new policy could largely improve the conditions and safety of students, Giant staff and Giant shoppers.
“They’re one of the smaller Giants in the area and when [they] get this big swarm of kids coming in all at the same time, it’s been somewhat intimidating for their other clients, many of whom are much older,” Baker said.
In past years, Giant has also experienced students stealing during lunch.
“Thousands and thousands of dollars of items [were] being stolen by the people coming in during lunch. So we talked a lot with them…and we started to Pay-and-Go [which] helped some but according to Giant, they wanted to keep a better eye on what was going on in the store,” Baker said.
Hopes are high that the new policy will allow students to purchase items at Giant while simultaneously decreasing commotion from past years.
“[The hope is] that [students] will still be able to go in and get whatever they want and come back out. And from the Giant perspective, I think they’re just going to feel more safe and secure and that it will cut down on the huge amount of financial loss that they had,” Baker said.
However, even with the hour-long lunch, students have reported that going to Giant has become an inconvenient process.
“It’s a lot more in control but I feel like it’s annoying to wait in line for the whole start of lunch because I usually wait 10-15 minutes just in the line to get into Giant,” sophomore Francisco Navas Porras said.
Since the implementation of the policy, many students who used to visit Giant for a cheap drink or quick snack have abandoned that routine.
“Before [this school year], I used to go to Giant to occasionally get a donut or a drink but now I bring food from home and no longer go to Giant as much because it’s too much of a bother,” Navas Porras said.
The conditions inside the school have also changed as more students decide to eat on campus, causing overcrowded hallways to be a common occurrence.
“It has been a little more packed, but I think that’s okay. I would rather know where my students are than not know in Giant and G-square,” security guard Deondre Jolley said.
Additionally, due to fixed lunch spots and overcrowding, students have been more negligent about what they leave behind.
“Kids could pick up after themselves a little better inside the school but other than that [inside school] conditions have been fine, ” Jolley said.
Further efforts to keep students safe and on campus are currently underway by WJ Administration.
“We’re going to start some intramural sports at lunch and ask teachers if they’d be willing to show a movie or something in their classes and to just have a few more things for students to do. We also just talked about getting some food trucks and seeing if the food trucks could park along Rockledge Drive to give people some more options,” Baker said.
