PRAIRIE VILLAGE ? Students in this suburb of Kansas City may have found a way to rid themselves of a schoolroom staple — the textbook.

The group of 11 sixth-graders is trying to raise awareness about the pain and strain heavy backpacks can impose on young people.

The solution?

“We don’t want to waste time on issues like cutting our heavy textbooks into quarter-sections, as (publisher) Prentice Hall has implemented in some school districts,” sixth-grader Spike Logan said during a news conference last week at Prairie Elementary. “We want to get rid of the books.”

The sixth-graders, who are part of a group called the Democracy in Action Committee, found that more than 30 states — but not Kansas or Missouri — have legislation pending regarding backpack safety. California, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia already have laws limiting the weight of textbooks.

Logan said the Association of American Publishers agreed that getting rid of textbooks “is the wave of the future.”

Prairie Village Mayor Ron Shaffer, whose daughter is on the Democracy in Action Committee, which is intended to get children involved in politics, said the City Council could discuss the issue.

Councilman Al Herrera called it a great grassroots effort. He suggested the children could get other elementary schools to join the cause.

“Then it can grow and grow,” Herrera said. “That is how you get things changed.”

Logan presented five weight-reduction options: Getting assignments from e-books or CDs; getting assignments directly from companies and libraries online; printing out assignments from school computers (for those without computers at home); establishing after-hours study halls to use school computers; and using public libraries.

Betsy Degen, Shawnee Mission’s director of curriculum, said using only online textbooks wasn’t feasible because the technology was expensive and not everyone had a computer at home.

“I’m not convinced at this point that seeing your textbook online is a good option for all students,” Degen said. “To be able to see the paper, scribble and write on it — that is not available electronically.”

Joanne Mariano, of New England Chiropractic in Kansas City and Higginsville, Mo., said backpacks on wheels were a great option.

“It is better for the neck region,” Mariano said. But, she added, “Some children will not use them because they think they are dorky.”

Sixth-grader Ashton Adams, who is part of Democracy in Action, said she was one of only two pupils at Prairie to use a backpack with wheels. But that may change.

“Most everybody really likes it,” Ashton said. “Everyone wants to get one.”