Roy F. McCampbell's Blog

When I heard about this, I thought it was a joke: The Gates Foundation is investing in the development of a urine-powered cellphone.

Frankly, I have always harbored a secret wish that someone would develop a urine-powered engine for automobiles. No one would ever run out of fuel. Now, that would be a wonderful idea and would provide an endless supply of sustainable energy forever!

But a urine-powered cellphone?

Who would have thought of that?

It does make more sense to invest in a urine-powered cellphone than to spend hundreds of millions to persuade school districts to evaluate teachers based on test scores. That dog of an idea went nowhere. It led to false positives, to high error rates, to narrowing the curriculum, cheating, and endless test prep as the stakes got higher and higher.

Last year, the Gates Foundation issued a challenge to reinvent the toilet of the future.

Mercedes Schneider has been keeping track of the states where there is significant opposition to Common Core standards and/or testing.

Initially, she identified 22 states where Common Core has encountered opposition.

After that post appeared, she learned that California should be added to the list, for a total of 23 states where critics are rallying against the CCSS.

Last month, Boston voters elected a new Mayor, arguably with a little help from a mysterious political action committee that dumped $480,000 into the campaign during its final days. One Boston confirmed to the Boston Globe this week that the American Federation of Teachers funded the group’s efforts to swing the race in favor of Mayor-elect Marty Walsh. Walsh denies knowing a thing about it.

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Late yesterday the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (disclaimer: I am a member of both the IEA Retired and the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. I am the President of a local chapter of IEA Retired and the Vice President of a local unit of IRTA) filed suit in Cook County Court against the pension-busting SB1.

This morning IEA Communications Director Charlie McBarron felt compelled to issue the following email:

—–Original Message—–
From: McBarron, Charlie
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2013 8:04 AM

Colleagues:

On Friday, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 1 was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA). 

The We Are One coalition is continuing to move forward with its own constitutional lawsuit over SB1. Nothing has changed. 

Our coalition continues to consult with its attorneys to prepare to bring the most effective suit possible.

Our suit will be designed to…