UEAALDF's Intervention into the
Los Angeles Public Schools Desegregation Case

Declaration of Jose Miguel Camacho

1. My name is Jose Miguel and I go to Miles Ave. Elementary School. I am in fourth grade, Track B.

2. My mom got an application for the magnet schools last year and asked me if I wanted to go to a magnet school, and I said yes.

3. I told my mom I wanted to go to a magnet school because I think that in a magnet I will get more help with my work, and I will get work that is harder. I also want to get to meet new people and have new friends.

4. In my school there are too many students. We can’t play tag because it is so crowded that we can bump into other students. There are only two balls for all the students in my class, so not everyone can play and we can only play volleyball or kick ball.

5. There are 30 students in my class. There used to be 32 students but they moved. We only have 20 dictionaries, so we have to share them. Now that we only have 30 students in the class I have better chances of using a dictionary. Sometimes people hog the dictionaries and I can’t get definitions for our tests and I get a bad grade. I hope the magnet schools have more books and dictionaries, so that people won’t hog them.

6. I have gone to the computer lab 2 times since I started school. There is only one computer lab. We were supposed to go last week but we couldn’t because another class was in there.

7. When we go to the computer lab we have to share, because a lot of the computers are broken. I don’t like to have to share the computer because it is really hard with only one mouse, and there isn’t enough room for two people. I want the magnet schools to have more computers for everyone.

8. In my school some times I don’t eat because the food is so nasty. They give a cereal called “crop flakes” that taste really nasty. They also give a cereal that instead of being called rice crispies it is called crispy rice, it tastes like nothing. Some times I don’t eat because it is so nasty, then I get headaches in class, and I can’t concentrate. I think magnet schools are going to have better food.

9. I really don’t like the overcrowding in the school. It took my mom three months to get me into a tutoring program, because there are too many students. I don’t even finish my homework there because there are too many students and not enough helpers. I think that in a magnet school I am going to get more help, and I am going to finish my homework faster.

10. If I go to a magnet school I can get more help and I can learn more. I want to go to a magnet where I can get taught how to draw. I like to draw a lot. I want to be an artist when I grow up, but in my class we can’t draw unless our teacher lets us, and she is the one that tells us what to draw. Me and my friend, Martin, draw during recess, and lunch. I want to go to a magnet where I can draw, and learn how to draw better. There is only one program after school for art, but it is too full, and I can’t get in.

11. If I go to a magnet school I want to learn more art, so I can become an artist when I grow up. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. This declaration was executed in Los Angeles, California on January 30, 2006.

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JOSE MIGUEL CAMACHO