The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School committee this week instructed its attorney to request a joint public meeting with the Oak Bluffs select and planning boards to discuss ways of resolving the turf field litigation.

“Details will be worked out, hopefully, by the attorneys,” school committee chair Robert Lionette said, following an executive session with lawyer Brian Winner Thursday night.

If the meeting happens, it would be the first public meeting between the bodies since the school committee last year appealed the town planning board’s denial of a special permit needed to install an artificial turf infield. The field is part of a long-planned overhaul of  the high school’s track and field facilities.

The boards have all been meeting seperately in closed-door sessions to talk about the suit, leaving the shape of a settlement unclear.

In January, the committee asked the Massachusetts Land Court to render a summary judgment instead of holding a trial. A hearing on the request is scheduled for July 14.

The litigation has mired the high school in controversy, with three of the six Island towns voting down their share of the operating budget in protest earlier this spring.

In response, the school committee agreed to seek a settlement and to stop spending high school funds on the legal fight once the current fiscal year ends June 30.

At a special town meeting Monday night, Chilmark voters approved the high school budget with an added pair of non-binding motions that spell out the town’s opposition to artificial turf.

The first asks for a commitment that the high school will use only grass fields throughout its campus.

The second requests that the school refuse to accept anonymous donations of more than $5,000 for legal action, experts, project design and permitting for any fields.

Both passed at the special town meeting, said their sponsor, Sheila Muldaur, who remotely attended Thursday’s school committee meeting.

Committee member Mike Watts pushed back at the demand for donors’ names.

“If someone dropped off a pile of cash, we’re going to say no?” Mr. Watts said.

All donations, including cash, are already subject to the state’s public records law, district finance director Mark Friedman said.

The high school committee will discuss its funding options at a 5 p.m. meeting June 22, to be followed by a meeting of the all-Island school committee.
Also Thursday, the committee chose Kathryn Shertzer as its next chair as Mr. Lionette concludes his year of service in the position.