Cecily Myart-Cruz

Cecily Myart-Cruz has taught for 26 years, at both elementary and middle school levels, and most recently at Angeles Mesa Elementary. She has been recognized for her work in the classroom, including as a UTLA/NEA “We honor ours” award winner, and she is trained in the AFT’s Education Research & Dissemination (ER&D) framework. As a UTLA West Area director for 15 years and an area chair for nine years, she has worked with schools to oust fifteen“bully” principals and collaborated with a network of school-site leaders across the West Area to initiate the boycott of periodic assessments to protest excessive testing, with a 96 percent no-return rate. During the reduction in force (RIF) crisis, she led Red Hot Monday actions every week, at which UTLA members pink-slipped LAUSD bureaucrats. During Public School Choice, she worked with leaders from school sites to build several protests, community walks, and community forums that prevented school giveaways. As UTLA Leadership Conference co-chair for nine years, she institutionalized lessons from this organizing into the union.