With an uncertain fall ahead for public schools, Vineyard schools superintendent of schools Matthew D’Andrea announced early this week that a task force has been formed to develop a reopening plan using recently released state guidelines.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of challenges that we don’t have answers for yet, but we are continuing to work on them and get guidance from the state to put this plan together,” Mr. D’Andrea told the regional high school district committee Monday night.

The goal, he said is to “come forward with an Island-wide plan that works for everyone.”

Under state guidelines issued late last month, all public schools in Massachusetts are required to develop three reopening scenarios for the fall: one with all students back in the classrooms, another with some classroom learning and some remote learning, and a third scenario with all remote learning.

A survey went out recently to parents to gauge opinion and comfort level about returning to school this fall, how remote learning went this past spring and other issues.

Mr. D’Andrea said the new task force will be broken down into subcommittees, including one for social and emotional learning, another for special education, and another for English language learners. A health and wellness subcommittee will focus on issues such as personal protective equipment and social distancing guidelines, and a food service subcommittee will focus on access to meals. There also will be a technology subcommittee and a transportation subcommittee, the superintendent said.

He said he expects to have a plan ready to submit to the state by July 31.

Committee members had questions about an array of issues.

Committee member Michael Watts asked Mr. D’Andrea for his stance on social distancing.

“I am going to rely on the medical professionals to guide us,” Mr. D’Andrea replied. “It is going to be no less than three feet. If students are not wearing masks, for example during lunch, they will have to be six feet apart.”

Mr. Watts asked if that will limit classroom size. High school principal Sara Dingledy said it may limit capacity in individual classrooms, but would not limit the overall student population.

“There are definitely size constraints,” she said. “Our building is big, our classrooms are small.”

Committee chairman Kimberly Kirk asked about fall sports, but Mr. D’Andrea said there are no definitive state guidelines yet.

In other business Monday, the committee approved a $129,960 transfer for a new contract for technology support with the state vendor ITC47. The funds will come from savings after the former IT director took a leave of absence last year, finance director Mark Friedman said.

“They have over 180 employees, so they have a depth of IT knowledge, one, or even a handful of people on our end would not be able to provide,” Mr. Friedman said of the company.

The committee also accepted a $100,000 grant from the Vineyard Vision Project to fund a new position and center for behavioral health at the school.

Kim Garrison was contracted by Martha’s Vineyard Community Services two years ago to help establish the position after a MedStar study identified significant gaps in behavioral health services for high school students.

Through the grant, the position will be funded for two years. Committee member Kathryn Shertzer raised concern about what happens after two years, and whether the school will have to pay for the position out of its own budget or risk losing the services.

“I can’t help but look that far down the line and have concern,” she said.

In the end, the grant was approved unanimously.

“I think we are going to need more support with mental health as we move forward with Covid-19 and the stress it has created with our kids,” committee member Kris O’Brien said. “Anything we can do to support those endeavors is important.”

At the suggestion of Ms. Kirk, an agenda item to discuss the school’s Black Lives Matter policy statement was moved to the next meeting of the all-Island school committee meeting.

Early this month Black Lives Matter was posted on the signboard that stands in front of the high school. In a July 2 letter to the school staff, Ms. Dingledy reaffirmed a statement of values for the school and said the signboard is not a political statement.

“It is a statement of organizational belief,” Ms. Dingledy wrote, going on to say that the school believes in value-based leadership, and spelling out the school’s values as community, resilience, compassion, accountability and curiosity.

“We want to make sure that we live up to our values,” Ms. Dingledy told the Gazette later “There are many students in our community who need to know the school itself is an ally of theirs, and wants them to feel safe.”

In her letter she wrote: “It seems that this is a portrait of the world today.”

At the meeting Monday Ms. Kirk praised Ms. Dingledy for her letter and said the policy discussion deserved a wider reception at the all-Island meeting..

“Our principal eloquently explained how school values require that we undertake a thorough review of our policies and practices to ensure that racial justice in our own interactions. My intent was for this committee to affirm these statements,” Ms. Kirk said. “However, upon further consideration . . . I would like to take this to the all-Island committee, where it can have more impact and can bring out the message laid out by the young leaders who have mobilized to bring these issues to the forefront these past months; to show that we stand beside them in pursuit of social change.”

Ms. Kirk also suggested that the committee establish a task force “to support the efforts to guarantee racial equity and justice, through training policy and curriculum.”