Del. Rob Bell, who wrote a bill this year to prevent registered sex offenders from working or volunteering at schools, has a new idea: requiring offenders to notify principals of their status when they enter schools.

He may enter the requirement in the bill, which has been postponed until next year's General Assembly session. In the meantime, a State Crime Commission will study the measure.

Two longtime elementary school principals in the area praised the idea, but both noted there are complicated issues associated with the registry.

Faye Giglio, principal of Charlottesville's Greenbrier Elementary, said the decision whether to allow an offender into school likely would not fall on the principal.

Keith Hammon, principal of Albemarle County's Baker-Butler Elementary, said he wouldn't allow a child molester or a rapist who had attacked an adult into his school.

But the certainty of the principals' early responses fades when they are asked about the possibility of school parents on the sex offender registry.

Parents and grandparents are a different case, Giglio said. Hammon said a parent on the registry would probably be allowed to enter the school, but only if an employee accompanied the person. He said he wouldn't allow the parent to volunteer at the school.

Giglio didn't rule out allowing a student's relative on the registry from visiting the school, as long as the person is supervised. But she noted that the offender could still present a danger for young children if they see the person outside of school and consider him or her trustworthy.

Neither Greenbrier nor Baker-Butler has dealt with an offender who wanted to enter the school, the principals said. But area educators have been talking about a convicted rapist who played Santa Claus last December at Madison Primary School.

This session, Bell inserted wording into a successful bill that would prohibit some future sex offenders from volunteering in schools and day care centers.

But his plan to require offenders already convicted to notify principals of their status will be considered this year by a statewide crime commission. The earliest time it would take effect would be July 2007.

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