Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School students will be able to participate in high school sports for the first time on the regional high school’s varsity swim team. Last week The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletics Association approved the formation of a cooperative team between the schools for this year.

“It’s been a bumpy road for us, but I think it’s time, and opportunity is on our side,” said charter school director, Robert Moore.

In the past, charter school students who wished to participate in high school sports were unable to. Previously, Mr. Moore had appealed to former principal Stephen Nixon to form a cooperative agreement for students who wished to join the girls’ hockey team, but they were never able to reach an agreement.

“The way the MIAA works, you must have the same principal,” explained current regional high school principal Margaret (Peg) Regan. To circumnavigate this stipulation, the two schools formed a cooperative agreement which is approved case by case and year by year.

Mr. Moore said the regional high school reached out to him when they realized the numbers for the varsity swim team were low. A few students at the charter school have expressed a preliminary interest in joining the team.

“We’re taking it one step at a time,” said Mr. Moore.

Regional high school athletic director Mark McCarthy noted that a number of sports teams have seen a dip in participants this year. They had to cancel junior varsity girls’ soccer, bring in eighth grade players for junior varsity boys’ ice hockey, and had small turnouts for the girls’ cross country team and the football team. Mr. McCarthy cited the small freshman class as a partial reason.

“More kids in a class indicates more kids in a sports program,” he said.

Swim coach Jonathan Chatinover expected a light turnout for the team and approached Mr. McCarthy about including the charter school. Ideally Mr. Chatinover would like to have 15 boys and 15 girls on the team. This year he has six returning boys, five returning girls, and knows of one freshman girl who expressed interest. From the charter school, he has heard interest from three boys and two girls.

Mr. Chatinover said he hopes that when the younger kids who swim for the Makos reach high school age, the team will have a full roster. This is only the fourth year the swim team will operate as a varsity program.

“The swim program is so new, the pool is only five years old,” said Mr. McCarthy. “Those kids who started swimming in third or fourth grade are not at high school yet.”

Sign ups for the swim team will be held on Tuesday Nov. 17. The season begins on Monday Nov. 30.