ATTLEBORO - Voters wrote a new lesson plan for the city's schools Tuesday in ousting four incumbent school committee members and electing challengers who had campaigned for a more active role by school board members.

In a result reminiscent of 2005, when only three school committee incumbents were returned to office, voters turned out sitting school board members who had served up to a dozen years. The Ward 5 race, won by incumbent Frances Zito over newcomer David Sidman by only seven votes, appeared headed for a recount.

Newcomer James Stors took a whopping 69 percent of the vote in defeating Ward 2 incumbent Shawn Moran; Brenda Furtado scored a 71 percent win over Jackie Romaniecki in Ward 4; and former school board member Bruce Levine narrowly edged out incumbent Michael Tyler in Ward 6, taking 53 percent of the vote.

In at-large races, challengers Raymond DiCiaccio and Teri Enegren proved the top vote-getters, with incumbent Helen Johnson also elected by virtue of her third-place finish in the four-way race. Two-term incumbent and school committee Chairwoman Roberta Wuilleumier fell out of the running, more than 250 votes behind in fourth place.

Among incumbents who survived, only Ward 1's Melissa Cook prevailed with a large majority, defeating challenger George Lukin by 194 votes. Robert Hill was unopposed in Ward 3. "There seemed to be a bit of anti-incumbent feeling out there," said Stors, who defeated Moran, 546 votes to 240, of the sweeping changes on the board. "That, and the new people did a lot of work - and that hard work paid off."

Others saw a mandate for change on the school board.

"The community is really looking for change," Enegren said, adding that she believes the newly elected members will be able to work with the holdovers in a constructive posture for education.

"I think we can move in a really positive direction with a lot of teamwork," she said. "We have a lot of good people, and if everyone is level-headed, we'll be just fine."

Candidates who challenged established incumbents had attacked hard over what some described as the committee's failure to speak up to or properly supervise the school department's top administration.

Their opponents countered that schools were moving forward steadily with new programs, grants and curriculum improvements and that the school committee was not shirking its duty.

Johnson said she was "disappointed" with the election's outcome, including the loss of Wuilleumier and Romaniecki, two of the board's most experienced members.

"I don't know what they're looking for," Johnson said of voters.

She said schools were making progress on several fronts and that the school committee of the last four years has for the most part banished the dissension and bickering that was commonplace prior to 2006.

Zito said she was also saddened by the election results, but predicted the old and new members will be able to work together for the betterment of the school system. She also complimented her opponent, Sidman, as "a gentleman." Sidman said Zito had proven to be a tough opponent. Due to the close, seven-vote margin, Sidman said he plans to request a recount today.

RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com.