National Head Start Association Statement on Death of Sen. Edward Kennedy

This today from the NHSA Web site after the announcement was made that Sen. Edward Kennedy passed away after a fight with brain cancer:

Senator Kennedy was a life-long champion of the people of Massachusetts. He was also a champion of children, especially our nation's neediest children. Each and every one of us involved in early childhood education owes this man a debt of gratitude for all he has brought to the Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

Kennedy was instrumental in the passing of the 1964 enactment of the federal Head Start program serving low-income and at-risk preschoolers. Since the agency was implemented in 1965, Kennedy championed its reauthorization ever since.

Parental Involvement Gives a Better 'Head Start'

Perform a Google search of both "parent involvement" and "Head Start" and you will be spending the next week reviewing all the material connected to the interlacing phrases. The two go hand in hand, as they should, and Head Start staffs around the country have worked hard to make sure that connection is both visible and viable.

At the Head Start Forum this past July at the STN EXPO in Reno, attendees labeled this as one of the community's "hot topics," so I now open the discussion to you, the experts in the field: How do you get (and keep) your parents involved at your Head Start center?

Stephane

Children Sprayed with Pesticides While Waiting for Bus

When a tractor engulfed in a white mist steadily rolled towards Nancy and Bryan Lara as they waited at their school bus stop in Caruthers, Calif., they knew something wasn't right. As the cloud passed them, it left a residue in the air and on their skin. Two blocks before, another student was also hit by the cloud and left with a coating of what tuned out to be a combination of "liquid sulfur, gibberellic acid, insecticide and fertilizer" — pesticide.

"Kryocide, the chemical that the children were sprayed with, is not an organophosphate. It is 'slightly toxic if inhaled' and can damage a person's kidneys and bones if they are repeatedly exposed to it, according to a manufacturer's information sheet."

The article immediately made me think of the large number of migrant and seasonal children that attend the Head Start centers around this country. If you have heard of this happening, please email me. Also, pass this article on to parents, Head Start staff and anyone else that you feel should be informed.

Getting to Know You

A recent blog by Terri Mauro of Ask.com's Special Needs Children discusses the importance of parents meeting their children's teachers, administrators and other school support staff. Regarding school transportation, she writes:

If your child's school is just someplace at the end of a bus route, and the personnel there [are] just voices on the phone when there's trouble, consider the advantages of upping your school IQ.

Many school districts across the nation train their bus drivers to be proactive in introducing themselves to parents before classes even resume so as to familiarize themselves with their routes and the "customers" they'll be serving the rest of the school year. Such meetings can also be beneficial in learning about individual students, especially the youngest, newest riders, to ensure the transition from home to the bus to class goes as smoothly as possible.

Of course, with regard to students with disabilities, introductions to parents can also go a long way in helping drivers understand the special physical or emotional needs of their students. Transportation staff should definitely already be a part of the IEP meeting, but drivers taking this extra step can fortify the lessons learned.

How does your school district and drivers prepare for the school year and meeting student riders and their parents?

Increasing Your Buying Power

At last year's EXPO, STN veteran Denny Coughlin and my favorite Muskogee resident Jim Cameron put on a workshop entitled "Cooperative Bus Purchasing for Head Start Programs." The workshop grew out of a Minnesota state-wide cooperative program that Denny had presented on in 2007. The Minnesota School Bus Purchasing Program allows school districts to purchase school buses through the state, which lowers the overall cost. Imagine all the Head Start programs in your state as one unified buying force, or, better yet, a federal bus purchasing program.
In 2007, Denny presented a similar workshop, "Spec’ing Buses Online," and was gracious enough to allow me to post the PowerPoint presentation from it. If you have any problems downloading it, send me an email.

Head Start Eyes More Money for FY 2010

Last month, the House Appropriations Committee matched President Obama's request for $7.2 billion for next fiscal year, but the National Head Start Association said in its July 24 news feed that it still seeks an additional increase in Senate’s final figure:

The House Appropriations Committee marked up and passed the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Education (“Labor-H”) bill at the end of last week. Not surprisingly, after receiving significant increases this year through the supplemental American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ($2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start) and with President Obama’s request for just $122 million more than Head Start received last year in our regular annual appropriation, the House Appropriations Committee agreed on President Obama’s request for Head Start. It would provide $7.2 billion (the same as the Obama Administration requested and $122 million above FY 2009) to “sustain high-quality, comprehensive early childhood services, including educational, health, nutritional, and social services, to approximately 978,000 low-income children before they enter school, nearly 70,000 over the fiscal year 2008 level.” The full House still needs to vote on the Labor-H bill.

NHSA and numerous partners requested an increase of 1 billion dollars for FY 2010 on top of the current annual appropriation. With the Senate slated to finish its work on all appropriation bills for FY 2010 by Oct. 1, NHSA invited its members to write or call Senate Appropriations Committee and subcommittee members.

Child Passenger Safety

After to talking to SafeGuard's Charlie Vitts at the EXPO last week, I looked into a Yahoo! forum on child passenger safety. There were a number of groups discussing the topic. You can either just read the comments or join one of the groups to contribute or ask further questions.
Thanks Charlie.

Yahoo! Child Passenger Safety Forums

Let the Discussions Begin

By Stephane Babcock

Hello to everyone who did and did not attend the recent STN EXPO in Reno last week. During the Head Start Forum — one of my favorite parts of the conference — we discussed this blog and how we can use it as another forum to discuss Head Start-related issues. We also realized we had a total of 520 years worth of Head Start experience in the room!! We were able to come up with the following list of common concerns:

- eight-way violations
- covering the cost of replacement buses
- buying buses cooperatively
- child safety restraints
- budget/enrollment issues
- pedestrian safety
- parent involvement
- safety training
- education on the bus
- federal and state reviews
- policies and procedures
- federal vs. state regulations

I will create a post for each of the above topics soon (sorry, the next issue is due this week) and open up the discussion to you. Here's the hitch: You have to get involved and post some comments. If you having issues, send me an email or give me a call at the office, 310-802-7812. It was great to see everyone at the conference. The Head Start community packed every class and made this year even better. Hope to hear from you soon. And yes, I misspelled pedestrian as "pedestrial"...