Education incumbent Curtis touts after-school programs

Eloise Curtis says the Richmond County School System needs to do all it can to help struggling students, but those students must show at least some interest in getting the help.

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Eloise Curtis: District 2 incumbent says after-school programs are key to helping improve the district's graduation rate.

One of those areas that can be improved is after-school enrichment programs, said the District 2 incumbent who is running for a fourth term on the Board of Education.

"The only thing we can do is have more workshops for the children, after-school study programs -- providing that they will take advantage of it," said Curtis of how to improve the school district's high school graduation rate. "And you do have teachers who will volunteer their time to work with them on their skills, like math and English."

The same is true, Curtis said, of improving the district's test results, which tend to fall below state averages.

Asked what can be done to help get students more interested in their education, she responded, "You should want to learn because even a little child, say, a 1-year-old, wants to learn things. They emulate the people around them.

"You would think that a student in school would want to do the same thing from elementary on up."

As for dealing with the financial challenges the school district faces, Curtis said perhaps textbooks could be a savings area.

"They can just have classroom study -- the average student does not carry (the textbooks) anyway -- provided they have (digital or online course materials)," she said.