George W Curtis Elementary School

I really want to love Curtis because the preschool teachers are so sweet, but the school environment is honestly wearing me down. The chronic absenteeism here is a huge red flag—it feels like half the kids are out sick or just missing at any given time, which makes me worry about how much cleaning is actually happening. Communication about health concerns or when a bug is going around is pretty much non-existent, so you’re always playing guessing games about what your kid might bring home. Plus, the building maintenance is always an issue. We just had a broken motor on one of the main doors for ages, and there are constantly work orders in the board reports for basic repairs. It feels like the school is struggling just to keep the heat and ventilation consistent. When you have stuff like that falling apart, you have to wonder what the air quality and general hygiene are like in the classrooms. I’m seriously considering looking at other options if things don't improve.

Honestly, I've been pretty impressed with how the staff at Curtis handles all the germs that come with the little ones. My son is in the preschool program and I feel like they actually do a deep clean of the toys and rugs pretty often. The principal is really good about sending out those blast emails whenever something like strep or a stomach bug is going around the classroom, so we aren't totally blindsided. My only real gripe is that they can be super strict about the '24-hour fever free' rule even for just a little sniffle, which is a headache for working parents, but I guess it keeps the rest of the kids from getting sick too.