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

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Early Head Start received $1.1 billion in grants, a necessity that President Obama trumpeted throughout his candidacy. But, with all the money coming in, how are agencies getting ready to implement the additional children? This was the main focus of the conference call, which was attended by STN EXPO alumni Nancy Netherland and Susan Hunt, as well as local Head Start representatives from Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, and Illinois, a Type A school bus OEM rep and myself.

Everything from child passenger seats to school bus evacuation drills were discussed. Anything that was not answered was tabled for further research and later discussion. It was another first step in an ongoing evolution of a program that prepares children for kindergarten and leads to successes in every grade beyond.  

Actually, it all began as a blog post (round of applause for Nancy and her always adaptive ability with any new technology). In that post, Nancy invited anyone interested to join in on a conference call being set up by the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start transportation community. The group will "discuss what strategies the transportation managers will be using to deal with the huge influx of newly enrolled infants and toddlers in their programs," blogged Nancy.

The conference call is set up for tomorrow (Nov. 18) at  noon eastern time. To join in, call 888-537-7715 and enter the pass code 58374320#. Hope to see (hear) you all there.