Principal Justin Young
Justin Young
Meet Our Principal

It is with great joy and pride that I re-introduce myself to the Winters community, now as the new principal of Winters High School! I formerly served as the Assistant Principal from 2017-2019 and I cannot even begin to tell you how honored, humbled, and thrilled I am to be coming back home. For me, this is the pinnacle of my career. 

I began my educational journey teaching social science at Jefferson High School in Daly City. I then served as an instructional coach at Jefferson High School, leading professional learning informed by learning data, and supporting teachers one-on-one to build greater instructional capacity and efficacy. From 2017-2019, I served as the assistant principal of Winters High School. With the utmost confidence, I can say those two years were the best of my career. The tight-knit, inclusive community, that is rooted in excellence, in Winters, is not found elsewhere. Although I left Winters High School after two years (to take a job closer to home as we started a family), my heart remained in Winters. For the next four years, I served Washington Unified School District as assistant principal of River City High School in which I oversaw athletics, AVID, Advanced Placement, school safety, and the implementation of more equitable systems of student support; then led the Yolo Education Center as principal, out of the pandemic. 

As principal of Winters High School, I am committed to leading through a lens of equity, in which our instruction, curriculum, systems of student support, and positive school culture are for all students to achieve Winters Joint Unified School District’s vision of inspiring and cultivating pathways to success and to fulfill Winters High School’s mission of providing an education experience that prepares students to be college, career, and life ready. I look forward to collaborating with our dedicated staff to continue the hard work that has already been done around cycles of inquiry to drive a culture of excellent instructional practices, continue to build a positive school culture, and develop robust systems of support. It is my philosophy that students will achieve success through instruction that is relevant, rigorous, engaging, and fulfilled through meaningful relationships. I know first-hand, Winters’ staff is committed to this, and I look forward to continuing to build on this work to support students. My passion for educational leadership is rooted in instructional leadership. Leading Winters High School in school safety, research-based instructional practices, and a student-centered culture will drive our student achievement to new heights.

Despite Winters High School being identified as a “small school,” the number of pathways and opportunities for students to participate in are endless. From the school’s diverse offerings of academic courses (with new opportunities as a result of our staff advocating for students to be able to take eight classes in our new 8x8 schedules), endless extracurricular opportunities (that I am excited to take my three-year-old daughter Adeline to), our beautiful new facilities, and the integration of the Career Readiness Academy on campus, we are primed for an exciting new chapter of our school history that is rooted in excellence and with a proud past and promising future. As an educator, I am a lifelong learner, and I look forward to learning from each of you about the areas that we want to celebrate, and areas we want to focus on to continue cultivating pathways for our students and community. Please look out for future communication about parent and community meetings with me so I can learn from you about when and where those meetings will take place.

All the best,

Justin Young Principal, Winters High School jyoung@wjusd.org 530-795-6140