Dr. Benjamin “Ben” Lester serves as the Executive Director of Restorative Community Schools. Prior to his role with Highfive, Ben was Director of Student Services for a metro-Atlanta school system serving 42,000 students and 6,000 employees across 40 schools and centers. Ben led a district-wide social and emotional learning initiative focused on five core areas: access, opportunity, and cultural competence; positive behavioral framework; mental health and suicide prevention; trauma-informed practices; and staff well-being and self-care. Over the past 20 plus years, he has been a teacher, a professor, an administrator, and an educational coach. During his school-based administrative career, he served as principal at a Title I middle school and as an assistant principal at both the middle school and high school levels. He has taught Spanish, English Language Arts, Reading, and English to Speakers of Other Languages at a variety of elementary, middle, high schools. Prior to his teaching and leadership journey, he enjoyed many adventures throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.