AMHERST — Candidates hoping to serve on the Amherst School Committee aim to bring the community together to support a new elementary school building and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the district’s hiring practices and curriculum.

Seven residents seeking five seats on the Amherst School Committee at the Nov. 2 town election outlined their views at a League of Women Voters of Amherst candidates forum on Oct. 14. The candidates are challengers Irv Rhodes, Jennifer Page and Phoebe Merriam, and incumbents Allison McDonald, Heather Lord, Ben Herrington and Peter Demling.

To heal divisions related to the failed elementary school building project in 2017, McDonald, current chairwoman, said she will collaborate on outreach for a new building with the Elementary School Building Committee. “I’ve talked about wanting to expand on our in-person outreach in apartment neighborhoods and make sure other ways bring the community along throughout the building project,” McDonald said.

Page, who ran for School Committee previously in 2017, said there is continued sadness and frustration over the failed project, and that there needs to be genuine engagement with students and families to succeed this time. “One way to heal is to look forward together, to a future that is ahead of us,” Page said.

Rhodes, a former School Committee chairman, was on the previous building committee, and the hurt from the project’s defeat still resonates. “I know one thing: You can’t drive into the future while looking in the rearview mirror,” Rhodes said.

Demling said he has since reached out to people who had opposed the project and discussed a compromise that has led to the town’s acceptance into the Massachusetts School Building Assistance program. “We can work together and do this for our children,” Demling said. “I think that’s going to help us heal more than anything else.”

Opposing the last project, Lord said her campaign approach is to reduce harm by slowing down decisions and listening to each other. “I will be more proactive toward healing this hurt,” Lord said.

Merriam, who serves on the current building committee, said she wants to give assurances to all community members that their concerns are going to be heard. “We need to ask open questions, not leading questions,” Merriam said.

Herrington said a new school building won’t be constructed without building bridges and listening. “What I’ve done is I’ve had awkward, difficult conversations with people to meet them where they are,” Herrington said.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a goal for Page. “In terms of hiring practices for staff, I would like to see more proactive outreach and recruitment to populations of potential staff members that we may not have done before,” Page said.

Lord said the district can aid in retention by making sure, for instance, that staff is not working in a hostile environment. “This is the first year we’ve hired more staff and teachers of color than ever before,” Lord said, adding that she is excited to see anti-racism curriculum and restorative justice practices.

Demling said he admires the work done by Assistant Superintendent Doreen Cunningham to hire more staff of color. “I think a big part of that is anti-bias hiring practices she has instituted and restored,” Demling said.

Looking at every facet of the school community through diversity, equity and inclusion needs to be done, Rhodes said. “If it’s a value, it’s something you employ on a day-to-day basis,” Rhodes said, noting that he would use an assessment tool to make sure schools are meeting these goals.

Herrington said showing people they matter is important. “What I think we can improve on is to show the public that we value the people we bring in,” Herrington said.

The district has done a good job recently, McDonald said, and must continue.

Merriam said making sure that educators look like the community and have similar backgrounds and beliefs is an important objective. “How are we hiring in a way that sort of matches the community at large,” Merriam said.