After steady growth for nearly a decade, Martha’s Vineyard public schools are preparing for even more increases in their population of non-English-speaking students.

Enrollment at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School has increased this year, while numbers at Island elementary schools have dropped slightly overall.

Martha’s Vineyard public schools have been accepted into a state-sponsored coronavirus testing program for symptomatic testing, superintendent Matthew D’Andrea announced this week.

Plans for a school-wide testing program took a giant step forward late last week, after the Island’s five school districts voted to authorize partial funding for the program.

The all-Island committee voted Thursday to authorize a new school-wide testing plan, unanimously backing a draft of the program while deferring the question of funding to local district committees.

Thursday marked the first day of school for students across the Island, but this year, backpacks and school buses were traded in for Chromebooks and webcams.