And then there was Maria Nichols, who looked like the school principal she once was.<\/p>\n
Shiny black shoes. Black slacks. Light makeup. Tight smile. The only flash of color was her green V-neck union T-shirt, the logo peeking out of a black blazer.<\/p>\n
Arias and Myart-Cruz gave impassioned speeches hailing the last-minute deals, which still need to be approved by union members and the school board. Nichols, who leads the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles\/Teamsters Local 2010, started with a joke about her mere year and 10 months as a union leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the new kid on the block,\u201d the 60-year-old said. \u201cBut we made a commitment. It\u2019s not about equality, it\u2019s about equity. \u2026 We are all better today for our collective work.\u201d<\/p>\n
AALA\u2019s tentative contract calls for raises of more than 11% for the LAUSD\u2019s 3,000 principals, assistant principals and middle managers \u2014 a lower percentage increase than SEIU\u2019s 24% and UTLA\u2019s 14%. But the contract also secured a 40-hour week with flex time off for extra hours, addressing long-standing complaints about grueling schedules.<\/p>\n
On top of all that, Nichols has led her members into a new era. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor a long time, principals have been perceived\u201d as a class apart from other school employees, Arias said at the City Hall news conference Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Not only are they many workers\u2019 bosses, but with median salaries of $160,139 for elementary schools and $174,628 for higher grades, they make a lot more money. When UTLA went on strike in 2019, AALA stayed on the job. <\/p>\n
This time, AALA and the other two unions vowed to all go on strike together if any one of them failed to get a contract. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo them coming in,\u201d Arias continued, \u201creally shows our members that it is important to start figuring out how we work in solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nichols \u201ccalled us and said, \u2018I know that you guys have already been rolling, but I want to join in,\u2019\u201d Myart-Cruz added. \u201cHaving the leadership to be able to articulate that message to her administrators is a great thing. Solidarity is a great thing, but we now have unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI may be the new kid on the block,\u201d Nichols told me afterward with a grin, \u201cbut I\u2019ve been fighting for better schools for 42 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
We met a few days later at AALA\u2019s Echo Park office. <\/p>\n
\u201cExcuse the mess,\u201d Nichols cracked as we walked to her corner suite. She now wore a bright red pantsuit, union pins on her lapel. Hundreds of signs reading \u201cEnough is Enough\u201d leaned upside down against desks and cabinets. Chips, water and other snacks were piled inside collapsible carts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was all going to be used for the strike,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know what they say \u2014 expect the best but prepare for the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"AALA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776507489_405_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
AALA \/Teamsters 2010 President Maria Nichols hugs UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz during a news conference announcing a tentative agreement between LAUSD and the unions representing teachers, principals and workers at City Hall in Los Angeles on April 14, 2026. Above them is SEIU Local 99 President Max Arias.<\/p>\n
(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
A breakfast of blueberries and yogurt sat untouched as Nichols recounted her life story. She moved to Los Angeles at age 5 from her native Peru to join parents who left after a military coup. A star volleyball setter at Fairfax High, she gave up a University of Arizona scholarship her freshman year after breaking her wrist and finding it \u201ctoo hard to watch the games and not be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back home, she joined LAUSD as a bilingual teacher\u2019s assistant while pursuing a degree in physical therapy at Cal State Northridge. Thanks to a succession of bosses she called \u201cangels,\u201d she stayed in public education. She worked in San Fernando Valley elementary schools as an assistant, a teacher and an assistant principal before a decade-long run as principal at Vena Avenue Elementary in Arleta, which was designated a California Distinguished School during her tenure.<\/p>\n
That led to a promotion as a regional director for Valley schools, a job she loved despite the difficulties of shrinking budgets and enrollment. Nichols credited then-LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner with granting autonomy to principals in the district. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were all administrators from the field that had served time in this district and gone up the ranks,\u201d she said. \u201cThat disappeared with [current Supt. Alberto] Carvalho. Gone. Gone.\u201d <\/p>\n
She pointed to a flow chart on the wall, titled \u201cReady for the World,\u201d that Carvalho\u2019s team distributed after he arrived in 2022. He brought in his own people instead of empowering existing administrators, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great plan,\u201d Nichols said with no sarcasm while reading its goals aloud. \u201cBecause that is what we want. But we don\u2019t invest in staff because we have a shortage. … We can\u2019t have joy and wellness if your people are drying on the vine because they\u2019re exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friction between principals and teachers over budgets and educational strategies increased. Frustrated, Nichols attended her first AALA meeting about two years ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were like 20 people there. And I thought, \u2018This is it? This is where we are?\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
Some principals urged her to run against the union\u2019s incumbent president. One of them was Kathie Galan-Jaramillo, whom Nichols had hired to lead Sylmar Leadership Academy. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur union was very small, and it was very difficult for us to stand for what we believe in,\u201d Galan-Jaramillo said. \u201cBut Maria knew all of the things and hurdles that we [administrators] had to do and go through, and the expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
To prepare for negotiating a new contract, Nichols studied the existing one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so weak. The language was so antiquated,\u201d she remembered thinking, especially when it came to making sure members weren\u2019t being overworked. \u201cAnd then I looked at UTLA\u2019s contract and I said, \u2018Holy crap. No wonder they get everything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of 2024, 85% of AALA members approved a Nichols-backed merger with Teamsters 2010, which represents higher education workers in California, to shore up their resources and try a different, tougher mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has what\u2019s lacking among many leaders \u2014 she has the judgment and humility to say, \u2018I have things to learn and I\u2019m up to it,\u2019\u201d said Teamsters 2010 Secretary-Treasurer Jason Rabinowitz, who sat with Nichols in contract negotiations. \u201cAnd she\u2019s a learner and quick study. That\u2019s not always easy to do, because labor leaders have ego.\u201d<\/p>\n
After contract talks hit an impasse in February, Nichols reached out to Arias and Myart-Cruz to share research and strategy. They sold her on a united front. But initially, not all AALA members embraced the move, with some questioning why the union would still strike after getting a new contract. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was getting a lot of push back from members \u2014 \u2018But if we get a TA [temporary agreement], why would we strike?\u201d Nichols said. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t about the TA anymore. It was about the coalition. It was about sticking together. It was about power and unity. … My folks were not used to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nichols expects that AALA members will ratify the agreement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be done, and in May, we [Arias and Myart-Cruz] will go out and have some dinner, and, you know, adult beverages,\u201d she said with a loud laugh.<\/p>\n
![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776507489_80_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Maria Nichols, head of the LAUSD principals union, AALA\/Teamsters 2010, at her AALA office in Echo Park.<\/p>\n
(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Then comes what she describes as the new alliance\u2019s \u201cheavy lies the crown\u201d moment. <\/p>\n