Mobile County Public Schools is considering bringing back corporal punishment and shifting to a year-round class schedule.

During a Board of Education meeting Monday night, Doug Harwell, a board member representing District 1, said members of his community have been asking him to implement both proposals.

“People have been asking me questions about [year round school]. We’ve been doing it at one of our schools and it’s been successful and I tell them that I’ll bring it to the board,” said Harwell. “Also corporal punishment is a big topic, people have been talking about that and I shared that with [Board Member Sherry Dillihay-McDade] and she’s been hearing the same thing.”

Harwell said the district plans to send a survey to parents to get their thoughts on year-round school and corporal punishment, as well as on changing the time of board meetings from the mornings to the evening, when more parents can attend.

Fonde Elementary School in Mobile has been operating on a year-round calendar for six years, using a 180-day regular calendar and offering multiple week-long intercessions for students to catch up.

“Students love it and teachers love it,” Mobile County spokesperson Rena Philips told AL.com in April when lawmakers considered adding more instructional days to the school calendar.

Superintendent Chresal Threadgill confirmed he would send out a survey with the proposed questions, but did not elaborate on how the district would weigh the responses, or whether these measures were being seriously considered.

When asked for more details on the proposed measures as well as a timeline for the survey and potential implementation, Philips said “this just came up yesterday, so we do not have a timeline or the specifics you are asking for.”

Board member Johnny Hatcher weighed in on the corporal punishment measure, saying that if it’s brought back to schools, it should be done with parental consent and in front of a camera and a witness. Alabama state law and some school districts allow paddling.

But not everyone agreed with bringing back paddling.

“Let me just go on record and say that I would not support that. No kind of way,” said board member Reginald Crenshaw. “You’re talking about putting your hands on people’s children. I think it’s gets real pushy. I think we can come up with some other means of punishment other than corporal punishment, for the record.”