Head Start Health and Safety Institute 2025
- Start: April 15, 2025 7:30 am
- End: April 16, 2025 4:30 pm
Is your Head Start or Early Head Start program playing it safe (and healthy)? Make sure by registering today to attend this year’s Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute in Dallas, Texas, on April 15-16, 2025.
Our Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute returns to Texas for 2025 with an updated agenda explaining changes to program requirements. The Office of Head Start recently revised the Head Start and Early Head Start Program Performance Standards, including revisions affecting health and safety. This year’s Health and Safety Institute will explain these changes to the Program Performance Standards and changes to the monitoring system. In addition to learning about the recent changes, you will receive a full overview of essential health, safety, and facilities requirements. The conference will also feature sessions explaining how to conduct legally compliant background checks, maintain safe playgrounds, promote staff members’ mental wellness, and satisfy transportation standards. Make plans to join your fellow Head Start and Early Head Start professionals at this special event.
When you attend the Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute, you will learn how to meet Head Start and Early Head Start health and safety requirements and avoid common problem areas. However, registration opportunities are limited. Secure your spot today. Register now for the Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute in Dallas, Texas, on April 15-16, 2025.
TOPICS
We have updated the Head Start Health and Safety Institute’s curriculum for 2025 with a focus on the Office of Head Start’s recent revisions to the Program Performance Standards. By attending this exclusive training, you will learn about how these changes affect health and safety requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start programs. You will also learn how to spot potential health, safety, facilities, and transportation red flags. Over the course of two full-days, we will explain the following topics:
- Recent changes to the Program Performance Standards affecting health and safety
- Current Head Start and Early Head Start health and safety requirements
- Essentials for properly maintaining and ensuring safe playgrounds
- Conducting legally compliant employment background checks
- Mental wellness and self-care issues for program staff
- Requirements under the facilities purchase, construction, and renovation rules
- Applying the Head Start and Early Head Start transportation standards
- Preparing for Head Start health and safety monitoring in 2025
- Avoiding the most common health and safety problem areas
- Answers to frequently asked questions about health, safety, facilities, and transportation
These are just some of the topics that you will learn about during the 2025 edition of the Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute. Our presenters will also answer your individual health and safety questions throughout the conference.
AGENDA
The Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute will be held in Dallas, Texas, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Campbell Centre from April 15-16, 2025. Please note that the cancellation deadline for this event is March 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EDT. The planned agenda for each day is as follows:
Day One (Tuesday, April 15, 2025)
Complete your onsite check-in for the conference and enjoy a light breakfast. Conference check-in starts at 7:30 a.m. The first session of the day will start at 8:30 a.m.
The Office of Head Start recently revised the Head Start Program Performance Standards, including standards related to health and safety. This session will explain those changes and present an overview of current health and safety requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start programs. You will learn about the key requirements of the Head Start Program Performance Standards as well as Caring for Our Children Basic. Real world examples will be used to illustrate the rules. After attending this session, will will be able to identify and outline current Head Start and Early Head Start health and safety standards.
Enjoy a morning coffee break between sessions.
The Office of Head Start recently revised the Head Start Program Performance Standards, including standards related to health and safety. This session will explain those changes and present an overview of current health and safety requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start programs. You will learn about the key requirements of the Head Start Program Performance Standards as well as Caring for Our Children Basic. Real world examples will be used to illustrate the rules. After attending this session, will will be able to identify and outline current Head Start and Early Head Start health and safety standards.
Enjoy a ninety (90) minute break to sample the vibrant Dallas lunch scene. Note: Attendees are "on your own" for lunch.
The Head Start Program Performance Standards contain detailed requirements for employment background checks. However, the Performance Standards are not the only rules governing background checks. Although pre-employment screenings are intended to prevent liability for employers, improperly conducted screenings can become a source of liability. Join attorney Kate Weaver Patterson to learn the right way to conduct background checks, including considerations and compliance obligations beyond the Head Start standards. Following this session, you will be able to list the requirements for conducting legally compliant employment background checks.
Take a fifteen-minute break and have a light snack between our afternoon sessions.
Head Start and Early Head Start monitoring continues to evolve each year. However, health and safety remain major components and focus areas of the monitoring process. During this session, attorney Brian Tipton will discuss Head Start and Early Head Start program monitoring for Fiscal Year 2025. You will learn about changes to the monitoring protocols and common problem areas related to health and safety. The discussion will also include practical tips to help your agency better prepare for health and safety monitoring and avoid potential red flags. After attending this session, you will be able to list the most frequent health and safety findings and outline strategies to comply with the underlying requirements.
The first day of the Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute 2025 will adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
Complete your daily conference check-in while enjoying a light breakfast. Please note that if you checked in with the conference registration desk yesterday, you do not need to check in again today. Conference check-in starts at 7:30 a.m. The first session of the day starts at 8:30 a.m.
The day's first session will discuss facilities requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start agencies. The Office of Head Start's recent revisions to the Program Performance Standards also included updates to these requirements. During this session, you will learn about the current Head Start facilities purchase, construction, and renovation regulations. In addition, you will learn about related issues under the HHS grants management requirements in 45 C.F.R. pt. 75. Following this session, you will be able to outline the Head Start facilities purchase, construction, and renovation rules.
Enjoy a coffee break between the morning sessions.
Over the years, common playground maintenance and safety issues have resulted in many Head Start and Early Head Start compliance findings. During this session, you will learn about playground safety from a Certified Playground Safety Inspector. Rene' Hudspeth will draw on her 20 years of experience to explain the importance of playground safety and maintenance. She will discuss the use of rules and guidelines from ASTM International (formerly American Society for Testing and Materials), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and state minimum standards. Following this session, you will be able to identify requirements for maintaining safe playgrounds.
Enjoy a ninety (90) minute break to sample the vibrant Dallas lunch scene. Note: Attendees are "on your own" for lunch.
The Office of Head Start has long recognized the importance of mental wellness for staff as well as program participants. During the pandemic, OHS also began emphasizing self-care as an element of mental wellness for Head Start and Early Head Start staff. In this session, Dr. Kelly Jameson will discuss self-care and will explain the underlying science. Following Dr. Jameson's discussion, additional Head Start resources for mental health and wellness will be shared. After attending this session, you will be able to describe the principles of self-care.
Take a fifteen-minute break and have a light snack between afternoon sessions.
The last session of the day will discuss the Head Start and Early Head Start transportation standards. By attending, you will learn about the transportation requirements in the Head Start Program Performance Standards in Part 1303. The session will discuss vehicles and vehicle operation, trip routing, and safety procedures. This session will also discuss qualifications and training for bus monitors and drivers. After attending, you will be able to list the Head Start transportation standards.
The Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute 2025 will adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
The 2025 edition of the Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute will provide you with the necessary knowledge to meet the current health, safety, facilities, and transportation, requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start programs. You will also learn how to spot and avoid potential compliance problem areas. After attending the training, you will be able to:
- Identify recent changes to the Head Start Program Performance Standards
- List compliance challenges related to health, safety, facilities, and transportation
- Outline key health and safety requirements for Head Start and Early Head Start
- Identify elements of legally sound background checks
- Describe effective playground maintenance and safety practices
- List at least three self-care considerations for program staff
- Outline the Head Start facilities purchase, construction, and renovation rules
- Identify Head Start and Early Head Start transportation standards
- Describe the Fiscal Year 2025 Head Start health and safety monitoring process
AUDIENCE AND CPE CREDIT
All members of the Head Start and Early Head Start community, whether in governance, management, or front-line roles, will benefit from attending this year’s Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute. The experience level for this training is overview. There are no educational requirements or other prerequisites for attendance, and no prior preparation is required. Participants may earn up to fourteen (14) hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit in the field of specialized knowledge in accordance with the rules of the Texas State Board of Professional Accountancy for completing the entire course.
SPEAKERS
Rene' Hudspeth, CPSI, has served as a Playground Inspector and sales representative for Soil Express since 2005. She majored in Therapeutic Recreation at Texas Woman's University and has worked with special needs children since 1980.
Rene' has been an instructor for the Texas Association of School Business Officials numerous times throughout her career and has served as an NRPA instructor since 2018. She has had the privilege of instructing classes in maintaining safe playgrounds for the New Mexico Parks & Rec and the Arizona Parks & Rec associations. She has served as a speaker for TXAEYC as well as HAEYC. Rene' is also associated with TLCCA and ECCN. She will tell you that playground maintenance and safety are her passions. She says that she is usually the only gray headed woman on the playground, and she is usually on at least one playground a day.
She and her husband, Warren, have been married and resided in Pilot Point, TX over 50 years.
Dr. Kelly Jameson is both a public speaker and a therapist in private practice in Dallas, Texas. She works with adolescents and adults on a variety of issues including mood disorders, personality disorders, marital issues, family conflict and personal growth. When she’s not in session, she can be found around town speaking to businesses and schools about the intersection of mental health and real life.
She was trained as a systems therapist and her research background includes: women and guilt, the effects of infertility on marital satisfaction, and psychological effects of adolescent heartbreak. Her therapeutic style is casual but rooted in the techniques of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Systems Therapy and Narrative Therapy. She is licensed by the State of Texas as a Professional Counselor with Supervisor status.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Grant Halliburton Foundation, an organization dedicated to strengthening the network of mental health resources for children, teens and young adults; promote better mental health; and prevent suicide.
Dr. Jameson is a Kentucky-grown, extroverted lastborn of three girls, an ESFJ on the Meyers-Briggs and a 3 on the Enneagram. She’s married to Dallas attorney Chris Jameson and they have three children who remind her daily that you can never truly master the art of parenting.
Kate Weaver Patterson, Esq., is an experienced litigator, non-profit executive, and mediator. She is licensed to practice law in South Carolina and New York. Currently, Kate splits her time between Greenville, South Carolina, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she currently lives with her husband and their three children. She works with consulting clients across the United Stated
Before launching KWP Consulting, Kate started the Second Chance Justice Collaborative in 2019, a program of national non-profit Root & Rebound, whose mission is to help people navigate reentry after imprisonment and mitigate the harms caused by mass incarceration. Her work with R&R was particularly informed by the racial disparities within the criminal legal system and the need to bring disparate groups together to make meaningful change.
Before moving into nonprofit work, Kate worked as a litigation associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York and then clerked for four federal judges around the country. Following her clerkships, she spent five years as a domestic violence, child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor in Greenville, South Carolina, handling hundreds of cases and multiple trials. As a prosecutor, Kate learned the importance of thorough investigation and thoughtful deliberation to bring fairness to all involved.
Kate grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Arts in History and French from Duke University and earned her Master’s Degree in International Affairs, with distinction, from the University of Hong Kong. She returned to Duke University School of Law, receiving her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude.
R. Brian Tipton, Esq., is a practicing attorney with more than two decades' worth of experience working with nonprofits, governmental units, and other grant-funded organizations across the United States. Currently, Brian is Managing Director of Tipton KPCL in metro Atlanta, Georgia, where he heads the firm's tax-exempt and grant-funded solutions practice. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the Louisiana State University and the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. Brian regularly represents Head Start agencies and other grant-funded entities of all types in the areas of regulatory compliance, audits, funding source disputes, administrative appeals, and litigation. Brian also consults with organizations on governance, human resources, programmatic, and corporate matters, and develops and presents training programs for nonprofits and other grant-funded organizations.
The Head Start Health and Safety Institute 2025 will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Campbell Centre in Dallas, Texas. Rooms are available for special conference rates starting at just $159 per night (plus tax). These special conference rates are available for April 14 through 16, 2025, and may be offered for up to three additional nights before and after the conference subject to hotel availability. If you need to reserve a room for check-in before April 14 or check-out after April 16, please contact Alexis Moore directly at 1-214-706-0105 for assistance. Otherwise, hotel reservations can be made by calling 1-800-HILTONS (1-800-445-8667). Please ask for the special group rate for “The Private Client Law Group” or use code “CDTPC5” to receive the discounted rates. Reservations can also be made on-line by clicking here for the reservations page. The hotel reservation cut-off date is March 24, 2025 (or until the block is full). Because of the small number of rooms available, we advise making your reservations as soon as possible.
Just click the “REGISTER” button to register for the Annual Head Start Health and Safety Institute. Please note that the cancellation deadline for the conference is 5:00 p.m. EDT on March 14, 2025.