Daniel Alicea, is a special educator with 25 years of middle school teaching experience in Title 1 schools. He taught Social Studies and English Language Arts at a junior high school from 1997 to 2006 in the Laurelton-Springfield Gardens section of Queens. At I.S. 231, he was also the Spanish coordinator and technology coordinator.

In 2006, Daniel re-located to the Houston area where he taught in a middle school from 2006 to 2014. Missing home and serving his native city, he returned in 2014, and has since been teaching and advocating for the school community at MS 53, in Far Rockaway, Queens. There, he also serves as chair of the School Leadership Team and is the school’s UFT chapter delegate.

At MS 53, Daniel has successfully helped to thwart the closure of his school and limit charter school expansion within the schools’ shared colocation campus. He has storied, positive rapport with his students with disabilities and is a trusted relationship builder within the school community.

Daniel has championed efforts to increase family engagement, while actively collaborates with his school community to bring equity of voice, confronting racial inequity and promoting inclusion. He has, also, directed and produced various school Broadway Junior performances alongside MS 53’s talented students.

As a UFT delegate, he seeks to represent and balance the best interests of students, families and staff. In the 2020-21 school year, he proposed union motions and resolutions to try to help bring an end to unilateral mayor control of New York City schools, expand union democracy and prevent the privatization of Medicare for union retiree seniors.

Daniel is also a lead organizer within Educators of NYC – a newly formed community cohort of city educators. As a moderator for Educators of NYC, he has helped to facilitate monthly forum meetups bringing educators, advocates, activists, parents, and union caucuses together to share ideas for instruction and spurring vital conversations around reimagining and democratizing our city schools and the teacher’s union.  He now co-hosts, Talk Out of School, on WBAI 99.5 FM, with Class Size Matters', Leonie Haimson, also.

Daniel, who grew up in the Bronx and Queens, is the son of Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants and is the proud father of three daughters and a son.