TEMECULA - It's been a tradition in Heather Koser's classroom to decorate cupcakes on Valentine's Day, but this year the Temecula teacher traded in the treats for apples and bananas.

On Wednesday morning, her second-grade students at Rancho Elementary School carefully applied sequins, buttons, pipe cleaners and wiggly eyes to pieces of fruit, then wrote up little cards with phrases such as "You'd make a grape Valentine!" and "Orange you glad it's Valentine's Day?"

"Because cupcakes are out, we are doing the fruit thing," said Koser, referring to the Temecula Valley Unified School District's wellness policy, which took effect in August when school began.

Even without cupcakes, the point remains the same, to "show friendship to someone," she said.

Koser's class activity illustrates one of many ways Temecula educators got creative for Valentine's Day in the wake of new rules regarding what food is allowed for classroom celebrations.

Like other districts across the nation, the Temecula district developed the wellness policy in the wake of new state and federal laws calling for schools to sell healthier meals and snacks.

The laws regulate what and when certain foods and drinks can be sold at schools, but districts are free to create stricter policies. Some parents say Temecula's policy goes overboard - especially on days such as Valentine's Day, with most elementary school officials putting the kibosh on candy.

A letter recently sent home to some Paloma Elementary School parents stated in bold, capital letters: "Please do not have your child send candy in any form with their Valentine cards, per the school's food rules - thank you!!!"

At Rancho Elementary School, candy and chocolate were banned from the day's celebrations.

"We are not allowed to have any treats here or anything," said Rancho Elementary School second-grader Riley McNulty, 7.

Riley said that, while she had a lot of fun decorating her apple, she would have preferred cupcakes.

Rancho Elementary School second-grader Bella Hummel, 8, said she didn't mind the rules.

"I eat a lot of fruit," she said. "I have some candy during the weekends."

Like students, parents are mixed on the policy as it relates to celebrations such as Valentine's Day.

Parent Tess Crawford and her daughter, a third-grader at Crowne Hill Elementary, melted old crayons in heart-shaped tins to create valentines with tags attached that said, "You color my world."

"I don't mind it," Crawford said of the no-candy rule. She said her family is health-conscious and "there are other ways to celebrate the holiday - it doesn't have to be about the sweet tarts."

Though Crowne Hill Elementary officials asked parents not to bring candy to school Wednesday, some did, Crawford said, adding that the students were sent home with their wrappers unopened.

Not all mothers agree Valentine's Day for young students should be about fruit and granola.

"There's a lot of us that hate it," said Adrienne Ziobro, who has two sons attending Rancho Elementary. "I want to take in something fun. I don't want to buy the kids a pencil. It's just craziness."

Red Hawk Elementary School parent Kellie Cantrell has a different take.

"I don't think snacks on certain days of celebration are of any harm to children," she said. "That's not what is making our kids unhealthy. It's a lack of physical activity and too many electronics."

And parent LuAnn Thompson, the mother of elementary and high school students in the district, wondered: "Are we going to take all the fun out of holidays?"

Superintendent Carol Leighty, who has continually defended the policy when parents and students have complained, said there is some "flexibility" in the wellness policy for celebrations such as Valentine's Day, but that campus officials are "encouraged to get away from candy."

Among other things, the policy caps the number of classroom parties involving food and drinks at one every three months. At the parties, food served must meet guidelines, such as forbidding food with more than 35 percent of its calories from fat and sugar, with exceptions such as nuts and fruits.

Leighty said students may still celebrate the annual holiday.

"They can give out Valentines, do all the Valentine's Day stuff," she said.

In fact, many elementary school campuses in Temecula held so-called heart-healthy brunches Wednesday. At those events, Valentine's Day was celebrated by students eating carrots, fruit, granola, nuts, fruit juice and water.

Other campus officials were brave enough to do something a bit more daring. Helen Hunt Jackson Elementary School, in addition to offering fruit and berries, allowed students to make low-fat ice cream sundaes and build valentines with various pastries that were sent home with them.

But the whole no-candy situation has at least one former Temecula educator, who spent 36 years in the classroom - 16 of which were in elementary schools in Temecula - rolling her eyes.

"We used to have cupcakes and candy and all kinds of stuff," said the former teacher, Adele Harrison. She said the obesity problem is more about a lack of exercise than an annual celebration.

"Everything is so politically correct," she said of the new rules. "They go overboard on this stuff."

- Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.