PRINCIPAL'S BIO

Thank you for checking our website. My name is Cheryl Forster, I am in my 17th year as Principal and I love my job. It is always interesting to me how we find ourselves in careers we never envisioned for ourselves —I never set out to be an educator. I was born in Newton, MA and moved to Waltham where I graduated from high school in 1966. I entered Northeastern University on the co-op program as a pre-med student. I graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in 1970 with a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology. Throughout college I worked at Logan Airport as a Passenger Service Representative with Aer Lingus. I had planned to become a Court Probation Officer but the Irish Airlines made me a great offer and I stayed.

In 1973 we bought a “handyman special” Victorian here in Ipswich and raised three beautiful children as we worked on the house. As the children grew I was actively involved in the schools and was asked to substitute teach at Doyon School. I returned to college to be certified to teach and accepted my first position in the Topsfield Schools. I returned to Ipswich in 1988 as the Gifted and Talented Coordinator in grades K-8 and completed my Master’s Degree at the University of Connecticut. In 1992 I was asked to go to Ipswich High School as the Acting Assistant Principal. Later that year I became the Technology Integration Director. During the next exciting three years I helped teachers become comfortable with all the new technologies. I was asked in August of 1995 to become the temporary principal of the Ipswich Middle School. I agreed only “to open the building in September.” I guess the rest is history; I have found my home and enjoy every minute in this exciting school.

The planning and building of the new Middle/High School was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and the results have been more than satisfying. This was validated recently by being named as a Model School by MASBA for other communities to emulate. We live in Rowley on a historic property which was the first fulling mill in the English colonies. I am happily married to Barry Cahill the principal of Ipswich High School, which creates a really unique and cooperative working as well as personal relationship between the two schools. We have four grown sons and a daughter. We proudly became grandparents this summer for the first time and are enjoying this new phase of our lives. My passions include house restoration, perennial gardening, RV’ing, boating, exotic travels, and the fascinating lives of our growing family.