School officials are staying mum about a handful of freshman and sophomore students allegedly involved in a recent drug infraction at the regional high school, saying that no details will be made available until the disciplinary process is concluded.

Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss said discussing the incident in public might jeopardize an ongoing case.

“Over the last month, the high school has dealt with three or four students involved in possession of or sale of an illegal substance,” he said. “They are working their way through the school disciplinary process.”

It is understood that the illegal substance is marijuana.

School principal Stephen Nixon said federal law prohibits him from discussing the details of such cases, but that the school follows a drug policy that ties into Massachusetts state drug laws.

“All I can say is we have a policy, the policy is a consistent policy, and it’s followed on a regular basis,” he said.

Until the disciplinary process attached to the drug policy concludes, Dr. Weiss said school officials will not be able to comment on the incident.

“[It’s] an ongoing school investigation and action, and until that’s done we would never talk about it,” said Mr. Weiss. That would be like saying a person involved had been convicted of a crime, when the person had only been charged, he said. “We wouldn’t do that.”

Mr. Weiss said police are not always involved in drug cases at the high school, partly because of a recent change in Massachusetts state law. “If we’re talking about marijuana, the law has changed that makes it not as large a crime. It’s a violation with a fine,” he said.

But the school policy on marijuana has remained the same, with possession punishable by exclusion or expulsion.

“There is a process we have to go through, just like the legal process,” said Mr. Weiss. “There are various levels of discipline,” including immediate suspension, followed by possible exclusion or expulsion. But he said it rarely goes that far.

“They can be expelled, which rarely happens here on the Island because there’s no place else to go. We typically exclude students. The difference is, we exclude them for a length of time. A term, a semester, a year,” he said.

As for involving the police, Mr. Weiss said school officials are in contact daily with local law enforcement about issues in the high school and other Island schools. Mr. Nixon also said it is part of school policy to notify the police if any student is found in possession of drugs. “It’s the same policy for every case,” he said.

But for now, Mr. Weiss and Mr. Nixon said only that the police department is aware of an incident. “Have they taken any action? Have we asked them to take any action? I can’t talk about that,” said Mr. Weiss.