At least part of the playing fields at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School will get an upgrade this year, regardless of what happens with the legal case over an artificial turf field.

A trio of local contractors volunteered to repair a steep drop-off, running more than 300 feet along the home sideline of the main athletic field. The difference in level has posed a literal stumbling block for students at play.

“A lot of kids have gotten hurt,” Caleb Nicholson, an assistant football coach who also owns Contemporary Landscapes,  said at Monday night’s school committee meeting.

Mr. Nicholson’s company is teaming with John Keene Excavation of West Tisbury and Carroll’s Trucking of Vineyard Haven to rehabilitate the 325-foot-long strip to about 50 feet wide, he said.

The job will include removing the existing turf, which Mr. Nicholson said is not in good enough condition to roll and re-use; digging out and reserving the soils; adding new, sandy subsoil and then the existing soil before finishing with fresh sod on top.

All three businesses are donating their work, which for Contemporary Landscapes represents about $7,500 in labor, materials and equipment, according to a proposal Mr. Nicholson presented Monday.

“We like to try to help out the community, and specifically sports and things like this,” he told the school committee.

“All we really are looking for is some compensation for the approximate cost of the sod,” Mr. Nicholson said.

He estimated the sod would run about $12,000, and said the three companies have agreed to pay anything over that amount.

The school committee voted to authorize up to $15,000 from the facilities budget, so that the three contractors would not have to pick up extra costs on top of what they already are donating.

“They’re giving us so much,” board member Kathryn Shertzer said.

Mr. Nicholson said the team has consulted with Chris Huntress of Huntress Associates, the designer for the school’s planned track and field redevelopment, and plans to do the work over the weekend of June 3, after the athletic season has ended.

The school field has been a hot-button issue in recent years. The school sought to put in a turf field but had the proposal rejected by the Oak Bluffs planning board last year. The school has appealed that decision to the state Land Court.