EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton School Committee turned a new leaf on Tuesday as members were sworn into office for a new term, with those serving for the next two years looking to put behind them a tumultuous year in which two of its members quit over a failed search for a new superintendent.

“Thank you for running,” Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said at the swearing-in ceremony, which was held jointly for the School Committee and City Council. “It’s not an easy decision. … We have a challenging couple of years in front of us; we have lots of work to do, as we always do.”

There will be two new faces on the seven-member School Committee — Linda Markee, a former teacher and current manager of two small businesses, and Eric Guyette, a 16-year teacher who was unable to attend Tuesday’s event as it was students’ first day back after break.

Two other members — Laura Scott and Sam Hunter — were elected by voters in November after having served for several months to replace the members who quit last spring. Returning incumbents sworn in were Megan Harvey and Ben Hersey. The mayor serves as the seventh member of the committee.

As the last committee’s two-year term wound down last fall, several members expressed their goals to learn from missteps, move on and actively listen to and communicate with community members.

The new committee will be immediately tasked with a number of responsibilities, preeminently budget discussions and a renewed superintendent search.

“We need to find a really good superintendent,” Hunter said. “My vision is being a leader in that process but also allowing the process to be driven by the needs of the community — students and families and teachers.”

At an re-organizational meeting held directly after the ceremony, members selected Scott to lead the committee as chair, replacing Cynthia Kwiecinski, who did not seek re-election due to health reasons.

Scott, who has a background in public education and currently works in real estate, was previously a member of the committee for a few years beginning in 2013.

At the meeting, members also voted to elect Harvey as secretary of the committee.

The Finance Subcommittee will include Harvey, Scott and Guyette; the Policy Subcommittee will include Hunter, Hersey and Markee.

Voting for election of the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) board member and School Building Committee was postponed until the next meeting.

City Council

The City Council, meanwhile, will look largely the same with seven councilors returning to be joined by two new faces.

Newcomer Jason “JT” Tirrell was sworn in for his first term as at-large councilor, and he will serve on the finance committee and rules and government relations committee.

Meanwhile, Tamara Smith, who returns to City Council after serving a term ending in 2017, was sworn in as Precinct 5 city councilor.

The remaining councilors are returning and on Tuesday received their committee assignments. These include at-large councilors Owen Zaret, public safety committee and property committee; Brad Riley, public safety committee and appointment committee; and Koni Denham, finance committee and ordinance committee.

“We live in a financially precarious time, so how do I utilize my position in municipal government to benefit the most number of residents?” Denhan said. “I also think that we live in politically precarious times, so how do I use my position to be affirmative for residents?”

Denham said some top priorities include getting more people involved in city government through the Municipal Leadership Academy, making sure city departments have the resources they need and utilizing city spaces to support youth development.

“When I first ran two years ago, it was to advance housing policies,” said Riley. “We’ve definitely made a lot of progress in the last two years, but there’s a lot more that still needs to be done.”

As for precinct councilors, incumbents sworn in included James “JP” Kwiecinski, rules and government relations committee and property committee; Homar Gomez, rules and government relations committee and appointments committee; Thomas Peake, finance committee and property committee; and Salem Derby, public safety committee and ordinance committee.

“I’m hoping to work a bit on improving the flow of information, making it easier, especially around finance, just to have it be an ongoing conversation between the city and the council,” said Peake.

At a re-organizational meeting after the swearing-in, councilors voted unanimously to reelect Gomez as City Council president and Derby as vice president.