hello and welcome to "comunidad del valle." today the director of child support services is here plus a boot camp for students on your "comunidad del valle." >> nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damion trujillo. >> we begin today with innovation in education, it's happening at the cristo rey jesuit high school. with me today sophomores at cristo rey. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> we do have a slide show that you have up on your website of this school. tell us about your experiences what kind of a high school atmosphere is there -- >> so cristo rey is a jesuit

high school, also the only jesuit high school in the east side of san jose. and it's very community based high school. it's small. we only have 250 students. only freshmen and sophomore class and cristo rey represents the community and living out our faith. >> there are, you know, some teenagers, some kids your age who might say i want to go to a regular high school that has four class ranges, freshman through senior but tell us why you think cristo rey was the place for you. why is it the right thing for you? >> what really caught my attention was that we worked one day a week. and that's a part of it. and we get the opportunity to like at the expand for our futures, put that on our resume. >> that's an important component the fact that the tuition of obviously it is not cheap to attend a high school like this

one, and so you kind of have to earn your education. you guys are sophomores in high school. you have to earn it. you, for instance, you work at the medical foundation. tell us about that and how that's been. >> i worked at palo alto medical foundation and currently, i'm working at the food clinic. so, i really just give patients the correct form for them to fill out so they can get -- so they can get their flu shot. and really it makes me work with my social skills because i'm interacting one on one with patients. >> what about you're at cisco systems. tell us about what and what you're doing there. you say you work one day a week? >> i work every wednesday. and what i do at cisco is basically help my coworkers how to market, so they ask me can you make the meeting for me. i can set up a meeting for them on webex.

and i can do information. >> so what is it, i mean, it's -- how does it make you feel the fact that you're able to pay for your own education? that's basically what you're doing by working at these places. >> yeah it really gives me a sense of responsibility in my education. it's making me feel like i can really do anything. i'm paying for my own education. that's as good as it gets. >> the sense i get is that this school is not giving you an option of failing. it's putting everything in right in front of you for you to succeed. how do you feel about that? >> it is. so the goal is getting to college, and graduating from college. my principal always says that we don't graduate in 2018, we graduate in 2022. >> tell us about that. but it sounds like it doesn't end after your senior -- you said the goal is to keep going until you get your bachelor's or whatever degree you're after. >> so our school they want us to

do well throughout our high school and they will also support us while we're applying for college, and during college, they always tell us that we could always come back, and ask for help. >> now how do you feel about your parents or your guardian at this point? because you kind of get a taste of what it is to feel how to work and to earn your way through school how do you do you have mosh of a precious for your parents or guardian on what they've done? >> it's a lot of hard work. and effort, i thought it was going to be easy. but, they give us a lot of work, and it's i am really like i really appreciate my parents, because i feel all the things they go through now. >> and is this everybody in the school? have a job or gets a job at a certain point? >> yes. >> i mean what does it do when you're talking to your sophomore classmates, sometimes they're talking about the school, or math or whatever sometimes talking about work and your work experience. what's that like? >> yeah, so work does come up a lot in our daily conversations,

we like talk about the different things that we do, like, you know, like the programs that we use, everybody is just different programs in their own company, so it's kind of interesting to see how they work and how we work like myself works. >> well, cristo rey jesuit school in san jose over by highway 101. there is their web address for more information. logon and find out more about that cristo rey jesuit school. thank you so much and good luck to both of you. >> thank you. >> up next here on "comunidad del valle" boot camp for students.

continuing our theme now we're talking about a boot camp for high school students to get them geared up for college eventually here on "comunidad del valle." teachers there are coordinating the ap boot camp there at the school. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> when you're talking about boot camp i'm thinking rigor and

intense and sweat pouring down my forehead. what are you talking about? >> we're talking about a boot camp a week-long course that helps get students ready for the rigors of ap classes. we know that a lot of our students are willing to challenge themselves, they want to succeed, but they weren't necessarily coming in to ap classes with the skills necessary to do that. either in the class, or on the exam. and the boot camp is going to fix that. >> this is where we might be able to stand and deliver, the kids summer of boot camp from the teacher there to make sure they were prepared for the ap calculus test tell us is it pretty rigorous? i mean once you're committed you're committed. >> it is. it's very rigorous. it's just a week long and they go from class to class to class, including a study skills class, and they're working for those hours throughout the day, and we're trying to give them the skills that they need more

scaffolding for so that they will be successful. >> many times when i'm around a neighborhood, by overfelt as a news reporter it's not always a positive story. what's it like to be able to share the positive stories of the cunningham community? >> i think that a lot of people don't quite understand how much the neighborhood has changed. and how much the schools have changed. our students are no less motivated. they are no less -- they're wonderful kids. they have a lot of ambition. and we want to make sure that those dreams that they have are not crushed. so we want to make sure that they are as prepared as possible. we've adopted a, i guess you could say a motto. we're not just going to get students to college through going to get them through college. that is the basis for our -- that's our commission. >> well, describe the student on

the first day of the boot camp to the last day of the boot camp, are they reluctant, angry that they're there? >> they start a little bit reluctant. and they seem to be like oh, i'm okay. i got this. but then they get in to our classes, and they're a little taken by surprise because some of them haven't really been exposed to the rigor that an ap class entails, and so once we expose them to that, and throughout the boot camp, they start to settle in and start understanding that this is going to be the type of work that they're going to need to be doing, not just in boot camp but throughout the year in order to make sure that they do well. >> was this your first summer or have you done it before? >> this is our first year. it's something that we've been thinking about for many years, thinking even before jessica was a staff member. but we just didn't have the funds to get it going. so, we applied for and were very grateful that we received a

grant that helped make this a reality. >> congratulations for that. >> thank you. >> i mean, is this something that maybe can become a model for schools, as they have these ability and the staff to get this going? >> yes. and we've actually thought about, we're working on expanding the program for next summer. we're looking for funders. so it's -- who are willing to help us out we'd appreciate it. we know that after this first year one week we feel was not quite enough. we want to extend it to two weeks. hopefully, include science, because right now we've got english, we've got the social science getting kids ready for ap u.s. history, and then the math section, ap calculus. weave got 14 ap classes at overfelt. and we have open access. so again we are not getting traditional ap students but that does not mean that they aren't

motivated. so we want to make sure that they have the best chance of success. >> what is maybe -- they may have been lacking as far as not being on that path to automatically go in to ap classes. was it a push from home or a push from within themselves what was it maybe that you noticed in maybe some of your students? >> a lot of the times, especially just in -- it's kind of just a lack of experience or a lack of knowledge about things that are outside of their realm and maybe just a lack of basic math skills, as well. and so, we try and incorporate and strengthen those areas. as well as expose them to what they need to be able to do. and then for english and ap u.s. -- >> a lot of it was reading and writing. >> mm-hmm. >> they weren't quite sure what college level readiness was like, what college level reading was like, so we exposed them

during that week-long course to what they can expect throughout the school year. >> it might be too early to track but are you sensing anything now that they're closer to the holidays and maybe -- >> yeah, we definitely have seen improvements. i guess our -- our -- we'll see how they do on the ap exam. we've got plans because of the grant we were able to do this, a weekend three-day retreat closer to the exams, to help them prepare. >> that's wonderful. congratulations to the school, and the principal there, and for all of your hard work and dedication. it's happening at the overfelt high school the folks who gave them the award and you can logon to the web address. thank you so much for what you're doing. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> up next here on "comunidad del valle" --

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the department of child support services, with me the director of the department and the supervising child support officer for santa clara county. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> we talked about this off camera. you're the most feared man in the county. >> i hope not. that's part of the message we want to get out. we want to make sure that our customers are pro-active in communicating with us and not fearful of communicating with us. >> let's paint the bad picture first and then get into the nice picture that we want to paint. i'll ask you about the bad picture. how bad is it out there when it comes to men or women being the responsible parent that they are or should be, and paying that child support? >> we have a large population that don't pay but we also have a lot that do pay. we've collected a lot of money this year, collected about $92 million. but we want to have our voice heard because we want people to come in, and not be fearful of

our office. they're there to help women assist them with child support and we're there to help not just collect. and if they have problems or questions or are able to assistance -- >> those who should be fearful are the ones who are not paying is that correct? i mean we're talking about not a lot are paying and that's a concern for you and everybody else. >> there are a portion of people who are not fulfilling their commitment and we are remedies for those folks, enforcement tactics that we have in place. but we're fortunate in that a majority of the cases do pay ap one of the avenues that we use to work better with our customers is that pro-active communication and making sure that we're reaching out early on in our case process so that people understand what their expectations are and that really helps. >> some folks might, you know, who are kind of obligated to pay might think that it's not fair, is it not somebody to snap well maybe this is fair and there's a way. >> we have a process in place

and we explain everything to them and of course, we have the courts of california, and of course once we explain it to them, and we open the doors to them, and they're not fearful of us, we can establish a great relationship, and once they understand the more information people get the better they understand and they are able to understand our process. >> it's not about them. we just showed video of little kids running around in the play ground it really is about them. >> absolutely. the focus is on making sure we're doing our best to collect the child support that families are legally, financially, and quite obviously morally entitled to receive and making sure we're providing what they have to become self-sufficient members of our community. >> what are the ways of making sure that child is getting the family is getting what is due to them. >> by coming in to office, getting application, getting an order for medical support,

paternity, and of course child support. so what we do in our office is to get money out to the families that are -- that need -- >> what if we're talking -- >> you and i were talking off camera awhile back poverty and how this really can be the kind of the link between a child being on the poverty rolls or maybe not get on poverty rolls, how responsible the parents or parents are. >> absolutely. our case load is upwards of 37,000 families. that represents over 55,000 children in santa clara county and for many of those families, they struggle. and they're economically fragile and child support is one of the true safety nets. that keep them out of poverty. so, it's part of our job to ensure that those children are receiving the financial support that they're entitled to. but we're also doing it in a way that helps us be more efficient and more effective as a government, and making sure that individuals are owning up to their parental responsibility.

>> what kind of authority do you have? what kind of powers are you given? >> santa clara county and the department of child support as a whole has a lot of authority. not only in terms of enforcement, and tactics that we take but also legally under statute. and what we try to do is not rely so much on those, avenues, for enforcement, instead, really what we want to do is focus more on education. our system is complicated. the court system is complicated. for folks who may not have experience in it, it's difficult for them to understand. can oftentimes be intimidating for them. and so what we try to do is be pro-active in educating our customers, want to put them at ease but two to give them the information that they need so they can make better dhiess about their children. >> it's not always about being the bad guy. >> that's right. >> i want to take in our next segment. if you want more information or you would like to get ahold of the child support division of santa clara county. we'll be back to talk more on this fortunate topic.

we're back on dmn khn talking about the department of child support services here in santa clara county and before we wrap up the last segment we're talking about not necessarily the bad guy in all of this. you really want to be the first the good guy first of the good gal before it gets into the negative. >> yes. like, education is a part of it. if you come in, meet us, we can go over the orders with them. or we usually meet with them, we like them to fill our service to help them through the process, rather than being the bad guy. >> mm-hmm. >> there is a way to not make an excuse now. you're talking about county wide. talk about the old -- what you're allowing folks to do now. >> one of our priorities is making sure that we provide more avenues for folks to comply with the child support obligation. and that means more payment options. ways to make payments. so whether it's over the phone, whether it's through our website.

or whether it's a cash payment. up until recently, in order to make a cash payment you had to drive to our office located at 880 park drive to make a cash payment that's for anyone to have a child support case anywhere in the county. that stretches as far south as morgan hill up north to palo alto traffic and congestion make it difficult because people are working. there's a new program that allows customers to make cash child support payments at any local 7-eleven for a nominal fee of $1.99. many times it's worth that nominal fee because you're not sitting in traffic, taking time off our work and get to our service during normal business hours. we're doing what we can to make those services more convenient and available to our customers. >> your office is not in charge of dictating what a person is going to be paying. that's up to the courts. your job is to make sure that it gets paid. >> correct. that's correct. we have like i said, a system in place where we plug in our number, and the system tells us

what we need to -- to pay based on a lot of factors, of course, income, visitation, a lot of factors involved, and the court if they don't agree with that, we can go to court on that. >> there are mionception that it's all men who are responsible for paying child support? >> there's a large majority of women that don't pay that we have -- mothers, yes. >> and you -- it's obvious you treat them the same way as you would anybody else. >> yes, yes. they have a responsibility to pay for their children. >> the bottom line ignacio is the children if you could reemphasize that and the importance of that for your office. >> absolutely the bottom line is that people should not be fearful of our department. that we're here to help. and that the best thing they can do is pro-actively communicate with us. reach out to us. make sure that they're taking control of their situation by asking questions, coming in to our office and working with us. the worst thing you can do is not cooperate with us or run away.

because ultimately, you will not -- you will not be part of the process and helping establishing an order that matches the facts of your case. so we want people to contact us, come in to our office. >> in your previous stints you worked outside of your office and in the community to make sure that there is this partnership with the parents and make sure that there's a report not good guy bad guy. absolutely. we're fortunate to work in san matteo and also alameda county and they have outreach programs available to educate the community and the public. that's something we're looking to do more of. >> on a personal level what's it like to know that you're getting a child what that child deserves? >> it's great coming from it's great for the community sense that we're helping children here in our own county that we that we that we live in. >> put your bad guy hat on and toss to camera three and talk to maybe those parents i don't want to call them what they call them on the street but those who

maybe are not being as responsible as they should be. what's your warning to them? >> i want to make sure people understand that the parental responsibility that they have are important. and part of that responsibility is making sure that they provide the financial support for their children. and we're there to help them do that. and although we have many enforcement remedies we prefer to work with people cooperatively, and we want them to contact us so that we can educate them about their options so that we can make sure that their children's needs are being met. >> nobody wants to pay any more than you know than they want to. >> right. >> but at the end of the day, do you find that maybe a lot some of your clients are saying well you know what, this is a fair thing, this is the right thing, i'm glad i'm doing it this way? >> yes, a lot of them that i -- when like -- establish a relationship with them and they know they can come to us they're happy to make payments. they want to support the children. we tell them it's for the children and they're happy to cooperate with us. i think them not coming in or

not getting any education prevents them from coming in or cooperating sometimes. >> all right. well, as the department of child support services for santa clara county, basically these rules are adequate for any county across the bay area, so word of advice for all of you there. if you'd like more information there is the local site here in the south bay and the local number for child support services of santa clara county. any final thoughts? >> we're just very thankful to be here and to be given an opportunity to talk a little bit about our department, and i encourage folks to go to our website, and to contact us to find out more about how we can help them. >> thank you for taking care of our children in this county. >> thank you. >> all right. and now here's what's happening in your comunidad.

celebrating a special day. and here are the web address

if you'd like more information, or would like some suggestions for shows in the future you can also follow me on twitter my handle is @newsdamian, also pick up a company of our newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. you can also watch us every saturday at 6:00 p.m. on telemundo every saturday. "comunidad del valle" in espanol on telemundo 48 at 6:00 p.m. on kscs. thank you again for sharing part of your thanksgiving weekend with us on "comunidad del valle." we'll see you again here next week.

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