LONDONDERRY — District administrators are hoping this month’s parent survey will give them some new ideas on how to manage the school calendar.

During Tuesday night’s School Board meeting, the board supported Superintendent Nathan Greenberg’s proposal to survey parents.

The topic had initially been discussed with the board in early February, when board members unanimously agreed that the coming year’s school calendar should remain similar to the current year’s calendar, though longer school days and/or a longer school year might be a good idea for the 2013-2014 school year.

“Based on parent feedback we’ve received, we know people want the opportunity to comment on this,” Greenberg said this week. “So our intent is to send an email blast out to parents, with a direct link to the online survey.”

The superintendent noted the survey would also be posted on the district’s website and on Twitter, and paper copies would be mailed to households without email addresses on file.

“The idea here is to get one (completed survey) per household,” Greenberg continued. “So if you can’t get a consensus within your household, there will have to be compromise.”

The survey, which will be distributed within the coming week, will ask parents if they’re in favor of full-day kindergarten or a longer school day for older students. They’ll also be asked if they’d favor a longer school year. Parents will also be allowed to offer individual comments and concerns.

Those who favor an all-day kindergarten program will be asked whether they would support increasing district’s budget in order to do so.

The option of combining February and April vacations will also be addressed, along with the possibility of holding school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

“Some people might want a longer school year, and if in fact they also wanted to have a long weekend in February instead of a full week’s vacation, then there’s an ability to mix and match by looking at (resulting) data,” said Greenberg. “My feeling is that it makes more sense for us to get the data first. There’s no sense in running off in one direction if respondents don’t want it.”

Greenberg said he doesn’t know of any school districts in the state with a school year that runs longer than 180 days, though there are several that offer full-day kindergarten.

Londonderry currently offers a kindergarten program at Moose Hill School, where children attend for half-day sessions.

“What you have to keep in mind is, if you go to a full-day kindergarten, you’d have to double the amount of staff and space,” Greenberg said. “We don’t have enough rooms for a full-time program right now. But it’s included in the survey as one (of many) options.”

Board member Steve Young said the survey would encourage parents to consider the tough questions.

“Even if something may not be a popular thing to do, ask if it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Greenberg said his goal is to have the survey completed by June 19. After that, the data will be scrutinized and compiled into graphs and summaries.

The board will then review the information during a public meeting sometime this fall.

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April Guilmet may be reached at AGuilmet@newstote.com.AGuilmet@newstote.com