San Diego Unified Rehired Award-Winning Teacher
The district reversed a position elimination for 2025 Teacher of the Year Stacy Williams.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Secondary Education
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San Diego Unified has reinstated Stacy Williams to her former school position following an earlier elimination. Williams, the 2025 San Diego County Teacher of the Year, will now assist in redesigning district transitional services.
Why it matters
The district aims to leverage Williams's two decades of expertise at TRACE to improve a program currently suffering from low visibility among staff and parents. This strategic move is intended to address declining participation in transitional services.
Stacy Williams served at TRACE for nearly two decades prior to the recent position changes. The new role assigned to Williams has an established duration of one year.
The players
Stacy Williams
She is the 2025 San Diego County Teacher of the Year who spent nearly two decades working at the TRACE school.
San Diego Unified
This is the school district responsible for overseeing secondary education and transitional services in San Diego.
The details
Williams will join a work group tasked with reimagining the delivery of transitional services, which the district plans to embed directly at individual high school sites. The move reflects a broader effort to modernize how these services reach students and their families.
Timeline
Stacy Williams received the San Diego County Teacher of the Year award in 2025.
The district eliminated and subsequently reinstated Williams's position in September 2026.
Culture Shift
This reorganization follows the trend of school districts integrating specialized support directly into high school sites to improve program visibility. It marks a departure from centralized models that have struggled to maintain engagement with families.
Parents and students should expect improved communication regarding the availability of transitional services at their specific high schools. The district plans to integrate these services more closely into the daily operations of local campuses.
The takeaway
The reinstatement of experienced staff to guide program redesign highlights the importance of institutional knowledge in modernizing school services. Families should monitor district updates as new communication plans are rolled out for integrated service delivery.
Further reading
For more information on local programs, visit the Secondary Education section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Voice of San Diego.
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