"I'm not sure we're getting what we want," she said, referring to the handful of Cambridge high school students who now attend the school. "We have not studied it. Are they graduating? Are they working in their fields?"

Several parents also asked committee members how they would increase parental involvement in the schools.

"Parent involvement is an organic thing, not something you can mandate or set up a plan for," said committee member Nancy Walser, who is known for her annual Parents Guide to Cambridge Schools.

She said schools should invite parents on field trips and rely more on newsletters and posters than on the Internet to publicize events.

Cambridge Citizens Moving Forward, the organizers of the event, has previously put together candidate forums during school committee and city council elections last fall.

Six of the seven school committee members attended at least part of the two and a half hour forum. Alfred B. Fantini was chaperoning a high school ski trip and did not attend.