Agreeing that it’s not worth the risk to send snow club students on their annual ski trip without some added protection against injury, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School district committee voted this week to require all students to wear a helmet when they hit the slopes.

Principal Steve Nixon’s request at the Monday night meeting to allow 44 high school students to take an annual two-night ski trip to Indian Head Lodge in Lincoln, N.H., was met with some hesitation, when Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss said there is no policy in place requiring students to wear helmets on the slopes.

“My approval would be contingent on the fact that students wear helmets,” said committee member Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter. “We would be remiss to approve a school trip if they were not.”

Mr. Manter added that the requirement should not rest on a student’s ability to pay for the rentals, and that the school committee should cover the fees for those who can’t afford it. But Mr. Nixon said it’s not that simple. “We don’t have a checking account or credit card, so we can’t pay for this up front,” he said.

But Mr. Weiss said it should not be the committee’s responsibility to worry about cost details. “If your instructions to us are that the trip can go forward provided the kids are instructed to wear helmets, and if a child is unable to afford it the district will take care of that fee, we’ll work out the details,” he said. The bigger problem, he said, might be in making sure the kids follow the rule.

Mr. Manter said students should be monitored by the five trip chaperones just as they would in any other situation. “The chaperones are responsible to a certain degree. If the kid takes his helmet off halfway down the slope, well that’s not the chaperone’s responsibility,” he said.

The cost of renting a helmet was estimated by the committee to be between $4 and $5 per day. If each of the 44 students are provided with rental coverage, it will cost the district somewhere between $350 and $450.

In other business, Dr. Weiss also announced to the committee that the high school will receive a portion of a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to be used for science programs at the high school. They expect to receive $3,100 of the grant money, with the remaining $5,400 going to the up-Island regional district.