Lawrence public school children routinely tote home backpacks stuffed with colorful brochures about soccer leagues, art classes and dozens of other youth activities.

Many notices are transferred directly to trash cans at home.

But the growing volume of materials distributed by schools for nonprofit organizations is prompting the school board to consider a policy that trims the backpack load.

“We are not trying to hurt in any way the richness of program offerings available to Lawrence kids,” said board member Mary Loveland, who serves on a district policy committee studying the issue.

“We are trying to make the backpack burden a little less heavy.”

At least 130 handouts were given to Lawrence school students in the 2001-2002 school year.

“There’s too much stuff that people want to be distributed,” said Supt. Randy Weseman.

Loveland said one possibility would be to limit distribution of materials to as few as four times a year.

Ann Evans, executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center, said the center had been a consistent partner with the district in distributing information to students about arts center programs.

“It’s major to us,” Evans said. “They’ve been incredibly supportive of us.”

She said the district allowed copies of the center’s Arts in Action publication to be passed out four times a year in schools. It detailed classes offered at the center.

“We could fit into a four-times-a-year plan,” she said. “That would be fine with us.”

Loveland said the committee also was exploring the possibility of setting up information centers in each school for distribution of brochures.

However, board member Linda Robinson said parents who didn’t go into the school buildings regularly might miss out on important pieces of information.

“Relying on a child … I’m not sure that’s the most effective way of communicating information,” Robinson said.

A list of information available at the kiosks could be included in existing school newsletters, said board member Sue Morgan.

Austin Turney, another board member, said whatever policy was created by the board should be applied consistently throughout all school buildings.