Harshbarger said the city should take advantage of Harvard's resources to develop new extended-day school programs.

"We need to push [Harvard] for their facilities, we need to push them for their students," he said.

Many candidates said there needs to be more communication between the schools and parents.

"We need to make sure that parents and the general public...know what is going on in our schools," candidate Elizabeth Kenney said.

There was little open criticism between candidates, but Fantini did get in one jab at current School Committee members.

"These people took two years to develop an attendance policy," he said. "They have forgotten what emotion and passion is all about."

Audience member Lorraine Y. Scott said she wished candidates had given more attention addressed to the issue of inequalities in the schools. She said some students in poorer areas of the city have to use Xeroxed papers in place of textbooks.

"Where the kids don't have books, they're basically children of color, children who don't speak English as their first language," Scott said.