Last month, the National Head Start Association pointed out that Congress had yet to pass a budget resolution to appropriate President Obama's FY 2011 budget request that would would make the $2.1 billion ARRA funding expansion for the federal program part of base grants instead of a one-time supplement in addition to the annual appropriation, which for FY 2011 would be about $8.2 billion, an increase of $989 million for Head Start and Early Head Start, to keep alive ARRA's goal of increasing the number of preschool-age children and infants and toddlers who are eligible for the program.

But, legislators are looking for ways to trim the national deficit. NHSA said that it could lose its previous gains if Congress opts for a continuing resolution rather than an appropriations bill.

The latest news from NHSA was that if the Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies decides to pursue an appropriations bill for FY 2011 that is not a CR, the bill mark-up will occur in late July. NHSA members were being asked to write their representatives in the House and the Senate to get on board.

Although not new to the Head Start teachers at Union High (and many across the country), using a crib to transport children was something new to me. The photo of the crib in action was something that first made me laugh, but soon it struck me as to how useful this idea could prove to be in an emergency. As we all know, Head Start programs are not funded to have one teacher per student in the classroom, so how else would they safely and quickly transport the students out of the building in the event of an emergency?

The event was an emergency preparedness drill having to do with the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is located about five miles from the school. To keep the children distracted while they waited for the buses, the teachers sang "Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream," probably not a hard scenario to imagine for the small students considering their form of transportation.

I rarely watch and read anything related to Fox News. Let's just say that they tend to be a little "biased" and we'll leave it at that. I was searching the Web for Head Start-related articles today and one popped out and bit me on the nose. "The Head Start Scam," as FOX's Stossel titled his blog entry, goes on to say that the $166 billion that has been spent on the Head Start program over the last 45 years has made "no difference." He bases this assumption on a study by the Department of Health and Human Services that compared a group of first grader who graduated from the Head Start program and a group who were not part the program:

The study showed that at the end of one program year, access to Head Start positively influenced children’s school readiness. When measured again at the end of kindergarten and first grade, however, the Head Start children and the control group children were at the same level on many of the measures studied. (DHHS News Release Jan. 13, 2010)

Stossel's claims are based on assumptions, and we all know what happens when you assume...What this study can not show is how those same children who were part of Head Start would have measured if they did not go through the program. There are immeasurable benefits to Head Start that a study will never be able to show.

What about the single mother who relies on Head Start to not only educate, but feed and keep her children safe when she is hard at work to provide a stable home life for them? I imagine Stossel, who you might also remember as a co-host of ABC's 20/20, could never understand the difficulties that many parents of Head Start children face. For him to call Head Start a "scam" without reaching out and talking to the people it benefits is poor journalism.

Luckily, after reading a good handful of negative comments from people who have no experience with the program, I came across this:

Head Start children are born with economic and social/emotional deficits compared to their more affluent counterparts. Head Start has done more to empower parents, narrow achievement gaps at school entry, and empower communities, than any other federal program. It deserves to be fully funded to produce the results that all children deserve. There are always limitations and delimitations to every study. The timeframe ignores more recent improvement efforts.

I will be adding my own comment soon to the growing list, and I implore you to do the same.

Nancy Netherland has been heading the series of conference calls, which will culminate at the STN conference in July. Issues that are affecting the Head Start community and its ability to transport its students have been helped and hindered by the stimulus from the ARRA and the new requirements attached to the funding.

"There's been a lot of interest in collaboration across Head Start and this interest group reflects the spirit of connectiveness among the Head Start transportation people to provide the safety transportation possible," said Netherland.

Child passenger seat training and the necessary funding was an issue for more than one caller. Although the goal is to have all of their drivers CPS certified, the costs related to the training, as well as the seats themselves, has made it difficult to meet for some. Community partnerships with local agencies helped one of the attendees.

STN EXPO attendees will be eligible to receive continuing education units certified by SafeRideNews for completing the NHTSA Child Passenger Technician pre-conference course that will be held the afternoon of July 24 and ending at noon on July 25.

See you in Reno!

The survey will capture each center's level of preparedness "so that OHS can better plan for technical assistance and guidance," according to the PI. The survey can be downloaded by here at the OHS Web site. The survey is a requirement of Section 649(m) of the Head Start Act:

"The Secretary shall evaluate the Federal, State, and local preparedness of Head Start programs, including Early Head Start programs, to respond appropriately in the event of a large-scale emergency, such as the hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, or other incidents where assistance may be warranted under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.)."

The survey is split into eight sections:

• Section A: Presence of a large-scale emergency plan and emergencies included
• Section B: Drills of your emergency preparedness plan, policies, and procedures
• Section C: Communication of your emergency preparedness plan, policies, and procedures for staff, parents, and others Section D: Financial support of your emergency preparedness plan
• Section E: Connecting your program with State and local (jurisdictions) evacuation and emergency protocols
• Section F: Coordination with emergency management agencies and organizations for large-scale emergencies
• Section G: Preparing for response and recovery from large-scale emergencies
• Section H: Emergency preparedness and response planning for localized emergencies