Alabama's school board members have changed their position about whether paddling is a good practice for schools to use to discipline children.

Nearly 150 delegates to the Alabama Association of School Boards voted Thursday night to adopt a position statement changing the organization's stance on the use of corporal punishment in schools from "encouraging local boards to adopt policies discouraging corporal punishment to prohibiting corporal punishment."

According to AASB Executive Director Sally Smith, the resolution was one of many voted on Thursday night at the opening of the AASB's annual convention, held in Hoover. Resolutions are adopted every year and cover all types of policy recommendations, Smith said.

This particular resolution was added by Hoover City Schools board members serving as delegates.

Hoover school board member Craig Kelley said an article published by AL.com in September 2016 showing Alabama was one of just 15 states with a state law that explicitly allows for corporal punishment prompted him to introduce the resolution.

Hoover schools do not use corporal punishment, Kelley said.

Federal education data showed 107 of Alabama's 133 school districts paddled students during the 2013-2014 school year.

Position statements are only policy recommendations, Smith said, adding the AASB's new position does not require school boards that currently allow paddling to change their policy.

State law allows school boards to decide whether to allow paddling.

The Alabama Education Association voted to ban paddling in December 2016.

Hopefully, Kelley said, bringing this issue back to light will encourage state lawmakers to sponsor legislation to abolish corporal punishment.

Twenty-nine states specifically ban paddling.

"If the Alabama legislature were to drop a bill [to ban paddling in schools]," Kelley said, "the AASB can advocate for abolishment of corporal punishment in Alabama."

Smith said the AASB's newly-adopted position "reflects the changing attitudes about looking for more positive forms of discipline. It reflects the national trend, that maybe [corporal punishment] is not the best option."

Many research studies show the negative impact paddling has on children's attitudes toward and achievement in school. After decades of research, all major children's advocacy and medical groups have called for an end to corporal punishment.

American education and child advocacy groups, including the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Bar Association, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association for Secondary School Principals, and the American Civil Liberties Union, continue to call for a ban, citing harmful long-term effects of paddling on children and the need to keep physical violence out of the educational environment.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry policy statement against corporal punishment, reads in part: "Corporal punishment signals to the child that a way to settle interpersonal conflicts is to use physical force and inflict pain ... Supervising adults who willfully humiliate children and punish by force and pain are often causing more harm than they prevent."

Smith said, "We know there are challenges in disciplining children, but the AASB position is against using physical punishment in the schools."

"I'm proud that the organization is reflecting the national trend in looking for positive alternatives to corporal punishment."