The School Superintendents of Alabama presented two Power of One awards this year, and both of them went to Andalusia residents.

The SSA’s Champion of One award for legislative service was presented this week to Rep. Mike Jones. The group’s Power of One Award for superintendents went to Andalusia’s Ted Watson.

 

“SSA is proud to recognized Rep. Mike Jones for his support during the 2013 legislative session,” the organization said in a release. “The Alabama Accountability Act, legislation that continues to be criticized across the state, was passed without any input from educators. On the night of its passage, Rep. Jones was one of the legislators who made an attempt to read and understand the impact of this legislation that had grown from an eight-page bill to a 29-page bill over the course of an hour. He voted against it primarily because there wasn’t time to read it and, as is he habit, he does not vote on bills he has not read. We need more legislators who do this.”

Early in the legislative session, what began as a school flexibility bill (HB84) came back from the legislative conference committee as an accountability bill. Legislators were given only one hour to review the 29-page document before they were called in to vote on it.

Jones, who voted for the original bill, said at the time that in voting against the second version, he voted for his district after receiving a text from a local superintendent just prior to the vote asking him to vote against it.

Lisa Woodard, governmental affairs director for SSA, said Watson received the Power of One award for his advocacy efforts for SSA.

“Ted does an outstanding job of communicating with his legislators in helping them understand the impact of proposed legislation on local schools…good or bad,” Woodard said.

SSA is the professional association for school superintendents and their system leaders.