EPIC works hand and hand with children, youth and families. We provide services to strengthen communities.

EPIC Transportation

Getting hundreds of kids to EPIC classrooms every day is a monumental task. It takes training, coordination and plain hard work.

EPIC transportation managers, bus drivers, bus aides and administrative support people and parent volunteers all work together to get the job done.

T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . . . T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . . . T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . . . T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . . . T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . . . T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . . .

EPIC bus safety curriculum goes national

EPIC Head Start programs provide bus transportation for children to and from program centers, as well as to parent events and field trips. For preschool-aged children, getting on and off the bus can present a variety of dangers.

Unable to find a curriculum to teach children bus safety and to meet the Head Start performance standard 45 CFR 1310.21, the staff at EPIC developed its own. The result is a five-unit transportation safety curriculum featuring Safety Sam, a teddy bear that helps kids learn about safe riding practices, getting on and off the bus safely, crossing the street to and from the bus, recognizing the danger zones around the bus, and emergency evacuation procedures.

The curriculum was developed in 2001 as a collaborative effort between the education team and transportation staff of EPIC. Tina Heily, Child Development Coordinator, authored the curriculum, with input from Transportation Manager Debbie Heide, Transportation Assistant Brenda Widmyer and Bus Drivers Ted Tucker and Robert Garcia. It was so successful that the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) Quality Improvement Center/AED collaborated with EPIC to make this curriculum available nationally.

To download the curriculum materials, click on the following links: Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view them.

EPIC Transportation Safety Education Curriculum Manual (English)
EPIC Transportation Safety Education Curriculum Manual (Spanish)
Safety Sam Book
EPIC Curriculum Copyright Statement

Bus Routes

Castlevale	Children's Village	Fairwiev
Jefferson	Moxee	Parker Heights
Sunnyside	Tieton	Toppenish
Union Gap	West Valley

About safety restraints

Until very recently pre-school sized crash dummies had never been used to simulate real world accidents involving school buses. The results of testing dramatically showed that pre-school children are subject to very different forces in a school bus accident. As a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed regulations for transporting young children. Head Start formulated new rules for safely transporting pre-school children.

There are three types of child safety restraint devices used in EPIC vehicles: child safety seats (car seats), safety vests and lap belts. When EPIC transports entire families in its Early Head Start program, all three types of restraints may be used on the same bus for adults and different size and age children.

EPIC has developed comprehensive restraint procedures and EPIC transportation staff are trained and continually monitored in the proper installation and use of restraints. EPIC ensures that all Head Start, Early Head Start (EHS) and ECEAP children being transported in EPIC vehicles are properly restrained in height and weight appropriate child safety restraint devices.