AMHERST — A recent celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. at Crocker Farm School, with sixth-graders hosting kindergarten students at a breakfast, embodied the intergenerational spirit of the civil rights leader, says parent Sylvia Brandt.

Such an event, though, is something that couldn’t happen at an elementary school in the future if the town moves forward with creating two 375-student schools at the Wildwood School site on Strong Street for Grades 2-6.

“My opposition to the plan has gotten stronger, having seen the importance of K-6 education,” said Brandt, adding that she remains concerned with the large number of buses that would drop off children and concentrate diesel pollution at one site. “Education is so much more than books — it’s creating the community.”

But Michael Greenebaum, former principal at the previously closed Mark’s Meadow School and representative for Precinct 6, said he will switch to voting in favor of the proposal when it comes back for a second vote at Town Meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.

Wildwood and Fort River schools, which both date to the 1970s and use an open classroom model that increases noise in the building and limits natural light, need to be decommissioned, Greenebaum said.

“The plan proposed by the School Committee has many problems, but they can be addressed over time, especially if those opposed to it run for School Committee,” Greenebaum said. “If the reconfiguration turns out to be undesirable, it can be changed.”

Less than a week after a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion for the project passed by a narrow majority of voters at the Nov. 8 election, it was unable to muster the two-thirds majority needed to authorize borrowing, being defeated 108-106. There are 254 voting members of Town Meeting.

A petition drive in December collected 200 signatures and forced the Select Board to call a special Town Meeting to reconsider the project, which is again being supported by a majority of the Amherst School Committee and unanimously by the Select Board.

The School Committee last week endorsed the project in a 4-0 vote, with member Vira Douangmany Cage absent, observing that $34 million of the $67.2 million cost will be covered by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Chairwoman Katherine Appy said new information to be presented includes clear support from teachers at Wildwood and Fort River, and affirmation from the MSBA that the town is not guaranteed to move back to the front of the line should it turn down the grant.

In addition, the MSBA informed acting Superintendent Michael Morris that it would not allow modifications of the educational plan, including construction of twin, K-6 elementary schools at the Wildwood site.

At a recent School Committee meeting, committee member Anastasia Ordonez said Town Meeting’s support would be a vote for the future, as it implements a redistricting plan ensuring that all low-income children and special-needs children of the same age are in the same building. Currently, some students are bused out of their neighborhoods to equalize distribution of low-income children, or to special education programs that are housed in a school on the other side of town.

“It is very clear that this is the best plan that we could have for this project at this point in time, understanding we have two schools that are failing and have to be replaced at some point, very soon,” Ordonez said.

Appy said school officials are doing everything possible to close the achievement gap, and expanded preschool, adding 30 new slots in the realignment of schools, is a factor in her support.

“I don’t want to lose that, because those 30 preschool seats are primarily for kids whose families who cannot now afford to send them to preschool, maybe one of the most important things for me as I think about the project as a whole,” Appy said.

Committee member Eric Nakajima said he acknowledges that it is a major change to have a dual elementary school on one site and to realign the schools.

But if it is not done, he anticipates it will take at least seven years to get one project done, and another 15 to 20 years for the other.

“We know that the overall learning environment is going to be demonstrably worse for the children and the families for a very long time,” Nakajima said.

The School Committee will discuss the outcome of the Town Meeting vote at its next meeting, but should it fail again it is unlikely to be able to turn to the MSBA’s accelerated repair program, which doesn’t allow overhaul of entire buildings. Morris said this program was used at the Amherst Regional Middle School to fix windows.

A new boiler, at an estimated cost of $400,000, is needed at Wildwood, and a new roof, at a projected cost of $1 million, is needed at Fort River. Both projects will likely be done soon if the school project is rejected.

Those opposed to the project, including the Save Amherst’s Small Schools, continue to say that the project is wrong for the town, that it will eliminate neighborhood schools, harm educational development for second-graders and provide limited play space.

Supporters of the project are showcasing teacher support this time.

One of those, Wildwood sixth-grade teacher Kristen Roeder, said in an email that 83 percent of teachers and staff at Wildwood, and 88 percent of Fort River classroom teachers, are on board.

“Teachers organized the petition drive to make it crystal clear to the Select Board and other town officials that support for the new schools is very strong among teachers,” Roeder said.

Roeder said teachers were not pressured into signing and even though there have been accusations of a staff member using a school account to solicit signatures, if that happened it was an accident, Roeder said.

The challenges in the the current buildings are illustrated by Astrid David’s kindergartener, who attends Fort River and needs to sit near a window as part of his special accommodations plan. David said the layout of the building makes this a challenge.

David said having a new school building will improve the education for her child, as well as other students. In addition, she doesn’t foresee a transition from an early childhood school to the co-located school building being problematic.

“I not only support building the new school combining our forces, I also support the concept of transitioning the little kids together after grade 1 into the new building,” David said.

Parent and Crocker Farm teacher Rebekah Demling, who led the petition drive, wrote a letter to Town Meeting explaining her reasoning for giving the project another shot:

“Our town will never be in 100 percent agreement over a change this large; but despite small vocal factions working to create false impressions of exaggerated levels of disagreement, a majority of our citizens have seen the fiscal, educational and moral imperative of this pivotal decision,” Demling wrote.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.