Matthew Guldin is a consultant and a lead trainer and coach in restorative practices for the New York City Department of Education (NYDOE). He has spent more than 40 years serving New York City’s families as a history teacher, an assistant principal, and as dean of students. He is a veteran of all the progressive educational movements coming out of NYC since the 1960s. This work began with his involvement in the struggle for community control of schools in the Ocean Hill Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1968. It has continued through his participation in and leadership of the small schools movement of the 1990s and the efforts to establish performance-based assessments as viable and preferable alternatives to standardized testing. His work as a dean of students at East Side Community High School in the early 2000s, led to his developing “The 100% RESPECT! Campaign”, a comprehensive cultural change program. Now working as a consultant for the NYCDOE, he was the director of New York’s Restorative Justice Pilot Schools Initiative, the initial effort at formally establishing restorative justice practices in New York City’s schools. From 2016-2019, he mentored 25 high suspension schools from around the city as they embarked upon or continued their journey to move from being alienating institutions to becoming caring communities. Matthew is presently the NYDOE’s lead trainer and coach in restorative practices, working with both principals and deans to fundamentally change their schools’ cultures. He has written several ‘how to’ pieces on transforming school culture and improving communication between educators and the students and families we serve. You can learn more about this restorative justice approach by visiting Cross-Cultural Consulting Services, or by contacting Matthew directly at matthew.guldin@crossculturalconsult.com.