The Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted 10-6 to approve the regional high school athletic field project at a dramatic meeting Thursday night, capping a long-running and often acrimonious debate over synthetic turf fields.
Monday's town meeting will reconsider the town’s $993,112 portion of the high school budget after Chilmark, West Tisbury and Aquinnah all voted down the financial plan at their annual town meetings this spring.
School administrators are looking for places to make cuts in a placeholder budget that would tide the regional high school over if the 2024 budget is not passed by the start of the new fiscal year.
The latest research on PFAS, found in the artifical turf being considered for use on the high school athletic field, states that the toxic chemicals are harmful in even when exposed to small amounts.
Two of the three up-Island towns that voted to reject their share of the regional high school budget last month have scheduled special town meetings to take a second vote on a budget that remains unchanged.
The regional high school committee voted 7-2 Thursday to make no changes to the operating budget for the coming fiscal year.
The 50-47 vote at annual town meeting underscored an ongoing division Islandwide over a plan to use artificial turf on one of the school’s playing fields.
