Taking a break is not a bad idea, especially with the geometric growth of the authors, posts and curators in the past few months. I strongly believe that you will bounce back, strong and better off. steemstem management team is made up of group of intelligent and noble personality but reaching out to us for transparency and recommendation at this point is a very good idea. You need to have a general review of curation process, you may need to task every member of the community if neccessary, don't hesitate to do so. We love steemstem, because it has helped us a lot, not only the rewards but it has given us a sense of belonging and make us feel at home, it has developed some of us from being only a scientist but also a good writer and many more. I wish you well with your decision and waiting eagerly to hear form you soonest
We are reaching out to everyone. What we want is the community to engage with each other (I have a comment at the top of this which gives some ideas on how to engage) and to help each other. I mean sometimes we see posts that are good but could be better and what we would like are community members to go around and read each others posts (not all of them, just like some you know) and if you see potential feedback to give it. Or if that isn't for you you could collaborate on a post... Anything, get to know fellow steemstem members. We want you all to make friends, new friends... We are asking you guys to socialize with each other really.
The problem is not curation, but engagement and the behavior of many members of the community. But we will come stronger, very soon ^^