ATTALLA, Ala. – An Alabama assistant principal faces a felony charge for paddling a student in September.

Etowah Middle School Assistant Principal Nathan Lynn Ayers, 32, turned himself in to Attalla Police last Friday on a charge of felony child abuse stemming from a paddling incident in September. Corporal punishment is legal in Alabama, and the case comes amid a push by the state’s teacher’s union to ban the practice, WBRC reports.

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Police investigated the September paddling incident and examined the student’s injuries before recommending criminal charges to the Etowah County District Attorney.

Ayers was booked into the Etowah County Detention Center and released on a $5,000 bond with conditions that include no corporal punishment, no unsupervised contact with minors except his own children, and no contact with the victim.

“Of course, you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Attalla City Schools Superintendent David Bowman told AL.com.

“We’re not in school right now, so the incident is under investigation and we’re taking it day by day, gathering information.”

Ayers served as a teacher and coach at Holly Pond High School before a promotion to assistant principal two years ago, according to the Etowah school website.

His arrest comes just a couple of weeks after the Alabama Education Association’s 650-member Delegate Assembly approved a resolution that “recommends all public schools ban corporal punishment.”

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The AEA resolution aligns with the perspective of its parent organization – the National Education Association – which “categorically opposes” corporal punishment, as well as recent calls by U.S. Department of Education officials to ban the practice nationwide, AL.com reports.

The news site’s analysis found nearly 19,000 students were paddled in Alabama in more than half of the state’s schools in the 2013-14 school year.

“Most states no longer paddle. Alabama saw the third highest rate of paddling in 2013-14, behind only Mississippi and Arkansas,” AL.com reports. “Twenty-nine states ban corporal punishment in schools.”

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s spokesman said that “as the President of the State Board of Education, the Governor believes that this is an issue that needs to be addressed by local school officials,” but others are urging lawmakers to approve a statewide ban.

“Craig Kelley, a school board member in Hoover, said he plans to talk with local lawmakers to encourage them to introduce a bill banning paddling statewide. Hoover, like a number of other systems in Alabama, does not allow corporal punishment,” according to AL.com. “Kelley said he has read the research and is ‘convinced paddling is not good for kids.’”

State Superintendent Michael Sentance seems to agree.

“In the state of Alabama, corporal punishment is a decision that is made by local school boards and I respect their authority to make that decision,” he wrote to the news site in November. “However, a growing amount of researched-based evidence suggests there is no correlation between the use of corporal punishment and increased student achievement.

“There are multiple ways to positively impact student behavior – it may be time to consider alternatives,” Sentance wrote.