Home
I call this My Promise 2038. Thank you.
Despite loving to learn, I struggled in elementary school and almost dropped out of high school.
I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 1.
But the high school placed me in a classroom that had extra support and resources.
My life achievements happening now are because I was given the support I needed to make them happen then.
Every. Single. Student. Deserves the same. And every single school deserves the resources to provide that.
Every neighborhood school should have what my school had.
No student should have to leave their neighborhood, or leave an empty school to attend an overcrowded one, just to receive the resources they already deserve.
I do not have all the answers. Parents and teachers do and they need to be heard, not told.
I campaigned against Rahm Emanuel and his school closing policies from the moment he resigned from the White House in 2010.
I have fought to defeat the notion that for one school to rise, another must struggle and fall.
Through my experience on the Local School Councils of Senn High School in Edgewater and Disney Magnet Elementary School in Uptown, paired with my experience as a housing organizer with amazing nonprofits like Action Now and as a constituent organizer with leaders like Alderman Ameya Pawar, I have learned one thing that makes me most qualified to serve on the first Elected Board of Education.
I know that the next solution is a shared one.
We must share in our schools’ financial opportunities.
We must share in our schools’ abilities to hire great teachers.
We must share in our schools’ safety, no matter the neighborhood.
When the new school year begins in my first term, it will be 2025.
I will start with a promise to the students entering Kindergarten.
By the time these kindergarteners enter high school, their high school must be able to meet their needs.
That is the promise we must make to the class of 2038.
We must start improving now for our students now. But the class of 2038 must be our mandate.
The class of 2038 must finally be the class to graduate from a Chicago Public Schools fully funding their education.
The class of 2038 must finally be the class to graduate from a Chicago Public Schools where every students’ needs are met.
The class of 2038 must finally be the class to graduate from Chicago Public Schools with an elected Board of Education, and we must not let them down.
It is a promise we will share.
We are starting small, but by taking enough time, we will build to where we need to be to get the job done.
I am not starting with a flashy ad, a giant rally, or deep dark money support.
I am starting with this: a letter to you.
A promise.
I am Looking Forward,
Daniel Steven Kleinman
#ShareThePromise #DanielForBoardOfEducation