Many young children are seriously injured or killed in motor vehicle crashes. Using a car seat reduces the risk of death in passenger vehicles by 71 percent for infants younger than age 1 and by 54 percent for toddlers ages 1 to 4. Early education staff can use these flip charts to help families learn how to keep their child safe in a motor vehicle.
This page provides policy and regulations, as well as helpful information about transportation in Early Head Start and Head Start programs.
Head Start programs that provide transportation services should consider communication skills training to increase the efficiency of their transportation staff. Program directors and transportation supervisors may use this resource to identify training issues that impact the quality of transportation services.
Programs must explain the impact of rising transportation costs to key stakeholders in order to maintain budgets for new buses and other transportation expenditures. This resource may be used by program directors and transportation coordinators to help them manage, communicate, and control transportation costs.
The General Accountability Office (GAO) completed a report that examined how Head Start grantee and delegate agencies had implemented the Head Start transportation regulations. The report can help local Head Start programs' improve their understanding of the challenges of transportation services. The report specifically provides information on the numbers of children transported by grantees and delegates that submitted requests to the Office of Head Start in 2006 for more time to implement the monitor and restraint provisions, as well as the challenges that were faced in the past.
This checklist can be used by local programs that provide transportation services as a tool for ensuring compliance with federal and state regulations..
Programs must comply with transportation regulations if they decide to transport children. This resource may be used by Head Start staff to better understand federal requirements for program transportation services.
Learn more about using active supervision and attention management strategies on Head Start buses.
Given the number of emergency scenarios that a Head Start program might encounter, it is critical for programs to put procedures in place for dealing with these special circumstances. Program directors and transportation managers may use this resource when establishing policies and procedures for ensuring adequate preparation of emergency evacuations and other transportation safety practices.
Head Start transportation teams have an important job. Each day, safe and reliable transportation services can be a child’s first interaction with Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Not only do transportation teams have to ensure that buses are safe and routes run on time, they also must supervise children. This webinar may help transportation teams identify strategies for meeting some of the many challenges they experience every day.