Alford, MA Municipal Lighting Plant Board

Bruce Forster

Bruce Forster is an educator, inventor, and a skilled craftsman who has actively participated in the cultural life of the communities where he has lived. A seasoned technologist, Bruce has spent much of the last 20 years managing technology infrastructure for public schools in Massachusetts. He believes that providing broadband access to towns in Western Mass is critical for the economic survival of the region.

He holds an undergraduate degree in industrial arts and elementary education from Glassboro State college in New Jersey, now Rowan University. His Masters’ degree in education is from the University of Connecticut where he specialized in teaching gifted and talented.  As a member of the National Science Teachers Association he participated in a joint educational conference in Moscow with the Soviet Academy of Science to identify and discuss common problems in science education in Moscow July 27 through Aug. 7, 1991.

Bruce retired to Alford from a successful career as the Executive Director of Technology of the Chelmsford Massachusetts Public Schools. During that time he assisted in the vendor selection and installation of a municipal fiber network for Chelmsford that is used by the schools, town offices, police and fire departments and managed the school and school administrative network and classroom technology. Previously, he was the Director of Technology for the Newburyport Public Schools and the Lincoln Public Schools in Massachusetts.

Bruce began his career as an educator in New Jersey but soon moved to Homer, Alaska where he homesteaded and raised his three sons. In his 17 years there, he built timber frame homes, made furniture, helped to establish a local artist’s collective and produced and acted in community theater. He received a grant from the Alaska Council on Science and Technology to develop a solar powered kiln for drying timber for use in his custom furniture business. Because “you can’t eat the scenery,” in Alaska, he also worked in electrical contracting, commercial fishing and construction. Returning to education, he developed a gifted and talented teaching program for the Kenai Peninsula Borough Public Schools in Homer, Alaska. His publication "Let's Build a Sailboat: A Differentiated Gifted Education Project.” provided an understanding of a differentiated approach to the regular curriculum.

Bruce and his wife Priscilla Tate live on Green River Valley Road (Rt. 71) where he produces an online multimedia publication from his home studio.

Bruce Forster
112 Green River Valley Rd.
Great Barrington, MA 01230
bruceforster@aol.com

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