UNHAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY: SOME SCHOOL DISTRICTS CONSIDER FLORAL DELIVERIES DISRUPTIVE

Love isn't blooming in some school front offices today because of policies prohibiting the delivery of flowers on the biggest floral holiday of the year.

Public schools in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Mo., have adopted policies in recent years prohibiting deliveries of floral arrangements and other gifts to students, even for Valentine's Day.

School administrators and office secretaries said managing flowers and gifts for students can be time-consuming and distracting, especially with the large volume on Valentine's Day.

They said no-delivery policies were created to reduce disruption in school offices and classrooms. Students also had trouble taking the arrangements home on school buses, and on occasion there were problems with students not receiving deliveries or forgetting to pick up gifts.

"Our complete office would just be full, and then we'd send notes and students would have to run back and forth, and it turned into such a big thing that it just wasn't feasible anymore," said Bobbie Pierce, administrative secretary at Central Junior High.

But other schools are more relaxed on the subject. At Scott City, Mo., Scott City High School accepts deliveries only after 1 p.m., while Notre Dame Regional High School, which dismisses early at 1 p.m. today, and Eagle Ridge Christian School, both in Cape Girardeau, permit deliveries all day.

"It's not an overwhelming problem around here. I love every minute of it," said Eagle Ridge school secretary Sherry Whaley, who is responsible for getting floral arrangements and other deliveries to students. "We won't be swamped since the majority of our kids are too little to receive anything."

Ending the pressure

Central High School principal Randie Fidler said the no-delivery policy takes the pressure off students to purchase costly gifts. He said he prefers to see students purchase the candy and cards supplied and delivered by school clubs because they are inexpensive and available to everyone.

"That keeps everyone on kind of an equal basis," Fidler said. "I think it's the best procedure, and they can still enjoy Valentine's Day in other ways."

In Jackson, florists are permitted to deliver cards to secondary school offices. Office staff later forwards the cards to students so they will know where to go to pick up their flowers. Deliveries are not permitted at elementary schools.

Jackson assistant superintendent Dr. Rita Fischer said the districtwide policy protects the emotional well-being of students. "We feel like it disrupts the educational process and hurts feelings of those who don't receive such items," Fischer said.

Local florists say Valentine's Day is their busiest holiday, and business owners in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City said the school policies have lessened their volume. In addition, florists said they must now hire additional staff or bring in volunteers to help with the increased load of individual deliveries to homes.

"It does make some type of a delivery crunch when we have to make individual trips to houses instead of going to one or two schools," said Arrangements by Joyce owner Joyce Kuntze, who has more than doubled her delivery force for today's deliveries.

Kuntze said she recognizes the need for delivery policies, but she wishes schools would bend the rules specifically for Valentine's Day.

"Schools are always very eager for us to support them in all their fund-raising efforts, but it would certainly be nice if they could reciprocate somehow for us on this one day of the year," she said.