After 17 years of teaching, special education teacher Todd Foster joined the Westford community as the head of the Routes Program. This is a transition program that helps special needs students prepare for adulthood, focusing on job skills, independent living, and college navigation. Prior to this, Foster used to teach at Lunenburg High School and coached unified basketball. Foster’s goal this year is to work with kids after high school an help them as much as possible.
Q: If you could be an ice cream flavor, what flavor would you be, and why?
A: That is a great question. I would go with Milky Way, it has a lot going on. There’s a lot of good flavors in there. There’s something in there for everybody. I like to be able to be somebody who can help out, I feel like there’s something in the Milky Way flavor for everybody. I grew up in Townsend, and it was my favorite flavor while growing up. It’s like caramel, chocolate pieces, nuggets, and ice cream.
Q: How are you settling into your new job?
A: Great. I’ve been teaching for 17 years, so I’m not new, I’m just new here. I’ve been looking forward to doing a program, a transition program, for a long time. Westford has been amazing with resources, I’m so thankful to be here. Everyone’s been so welcoming, my students have been absolutely amazing, and they love learning, so it’s been real easy to settle in.
Q: Where did you teach before?
A: I recently left Lunenburg. I was at Lunenburg High so I did a therapeutic learning center there, and then I have my transition specialist degree, which gives me the ability to do this job. I also coached unified basketball.
Q: What is the Routes Program and what do you do?
A: The Routes Program is a transition program so certain classmates have the ability to get transition services. So what a transition service is, it’s helping people after high school prepare for adulthood, we talk about finding a job, being able to live independently, eventually navigate a college, goal setting, growth mindset, self determination, or whatever that person needs. Once you’re out of your math class, science class, or English class we can really focus on the things that would be the next step in your life. That’s what Routes really does. It’s really individualized to anybody to what they need and what they want. So the main thing for a lot of students is finding a job, and the learning process of how to get a job. So that is a big thing we focus on.
Q: Who or what inspired you to start this job?
A: My first job in education, I was a substitute teacher at a little technical high school. I was in the transitional occupations program, [worked with] students who would be there from 14 to 22. The teacher was Mr. Foster, who was my father. So I was Mr. Foster, working under Mr. Foster. The students call me Mr. Foster 2.0 because they thought it was funny. So I worked with my dad, and at the time I was trying to be a sports writer, and realized I loved this more, so then I went back to school to do it.
Q: What is something that people would be surprised to know about you?
A: I’m an excellent dribbler of basketball. I never cared to spin a basketball on my finger, but I grew up playing basketball. I’m a little old now, but I can actually do a lot of dribbling tricks. You look at me, you’d be like, that guy can’t do that, but yes, I can. That’s a surprising thing, people wouldn’t think I’m actually a good basketball player. I was a point guard for my high school team.
Q: How has having children changed the way you perceive working and teaching right now?
A: I never knew what it was like to be somebody else’s parent until I had kids. When I was younger, I might get more frustrated when a parent didn’t understand what I’m trying to do. But now that I have kids, I know that they’re just trying to understand what’s best for their kids. Once I had kids, I started to understand this more, you never really understand a different depth of love until you have your own kids. So when a parent comes to me that’s upset about something, I can be understanding. They love this person so much, and I have to be able to explain why we’re doing what we’re doing. I empathize with it more, so I would say my empathy changed because I’m also a parent now.
Q: What are some of your favorite hobbies?
A: I am a huge sports fan, particularly basketball and football. I love fantasy football. I used to actually write for fantasy football websites, and I had a podcast for a while. So I loved doing that. I love comedy, I like to go to stand up comics a lot. I am also a big music fan. Honestly though, probably my favorite thing to do is just be with my family. I love being with my kids and my wife and just going to new children’s museums or finding a new trail. [Also] teaching my son how to purchase his own stuff with his money. So it might sound a little cheesy, but being with my family is my favorite thing, but when I have free time it’s sports, music, and comedy.
Q: What was your high school experience like, and how does it compare to Westford Academy’s high school experience?
A: The existence of technology is totally different. We would have to go to a computer lab to type things, and computers in the classroom did not really exist. No one had a cell phone, it was very different in the fact that everything was a lot more conversational. In nature, I think technology can be great in the classroom, but I also think sometimes it’s the things that I loved about high school that you guys might not get exposed to as much. Like the ability to really connect with your teacher and work on things together and the general connection that you have with teachers is a little bit different. I feel it too as a teacher, I’m guilty of that as well. I feel like my high school experience was wonderful, I played sports, I was in Student Council, I sang in the choir, and I was also editor for the paper.
