So, let me just introduce you the context and also introduce you to the Internet Assessment Framework, which is called Internet Legal Society Indicators. So, and also the relevance of applying that in the context of Asia Pacific but also Southeast Asia. So, this is based on the finding of the UNESCO's World Chain Report on Freedom of Expression and Media Development. UNESCO released every two years a World Chain Report on Freedom of Expression and Media Development. And now we also release a regional chapter by five regions under the United Nations. And so Asia Pacific is one of them. And the World Chain Report really provides some interesting trends according to four perspectives. One is the media freedom. The second one is the media pluralism. The third one is media independence and the safety of journalists. We provide those, these overview in order to, you know, to monitor the situation of freedom of expression and media development in the United States. And because UNESCO is the UN agency that was mandated in this area. So, let me just give you some of, some of the key trends in terms of freedom of expression and media development in the regions. But this is also, this is specific to the region. You will see that some of the finding also apply also to the case of Thailand. So, in terms of media freedom, you know, we have seen an increase in the right to access to information. You know, four days ago on the 28th of September UNESCO celebrated the International Day for Universe and Access to Information. And we see that more than half of the member states have now enacted a law to provide access to information, to public information to the citizens. But this is, this is a good improvement and progress in terms of the right to seek and receive information. But we also see, unfortunately, more and more restriction in the other, in the other part of the right of freedom of expression, which is the right to impart the information. And this is based on basically on the, you know, restrictive laws such as, you know, there's majesty, defanation, cyber security, Brazilian law or computer crime art. Which is, which leads to the same censorship and more and more restrictions in terms of freedom of expression, especially online. When we look at the second perspective in terms of media purism, we see that there is an increase in terms of availability of digital platform, but also in terms of content, you know, we have more and more content generated by the users themselves, which is positive in terms of purism and availability of information that people can access. But on the other side, we also have this trend of information disorder, which is, you know, which is, which is a global trend, but also very specific in our region such as, you know, fake news. And we know that in Asia is a fake news is a mainly propaganda for political reason rather than for economical or anti-scientific reasons. And we also read to some more restrictive regulations of the online content such as, you know, internet shutdown, internet filtering, online surveillance, etc. In terms of media independence, media independence has been sweetened through the exercise of political control, especially, you know, at the time of elections. We have seen that in some countries in Southeast Asia and more and more content is being controlled and regulated by the government in terms of licensing, you know, content regulation, ownership of some media, which we have seen, for example, a lot in Cambodia. And in terms of, finally, this is the force under the, in terms of the safety of journalists, the safety of journalists is more and more written online, especially, you know, there are a lot of journalists, online journalists and bloggers who are targeted and who are killed. In prison, based on the legislation such as, you know, cyber security to regulate online content, internet surveillance, etc. And again, you know, it's not the traditional journalists who operate in the media who are the target of those respective law but it's mainly citizen journalists or bloggers. There is a very interesting case, for example, in Vietnam, where, you know, the Vietnamese law protects journalists working in traditional media, but online journalists are not protected. So they are the main target and victims of online harassment, restriction, imprisonment, etc. So these are the key trends that UNESCO monitor worldwide. And based on that, in 2015, UNESCO's member state agreed on an internet ecosystem that is required for an internet, for a healthy internet ecosystem, for an internet that works for everybody, not only for those who are in power such as who are in the, you know, authorities, big private sectors, but for an internet that provides opportunities for anyone to find a benefit to access to the information that they need and to also grow their own businesses. So it's called internet universality and it is based on basically on four key principles for an internet, which is an internet which is based on human rights, which is open, which is accessible and which is multistakeholder driven. So multistakeholder driven means that any decision relating to the regulation of internet has to be taken in consultation with all the stakeholders like these groups coming from different backgrounds in order to meet the needs of everyone. And so, based on the four principles UNESCO has started to develop a framework for accessing the internet and we have conducted an important number of consultations with experts, with the government, online consultation, physical consultation, etc. in different parts of the world over the past three years, and we came out from, we came out of this consultation, we produce what we call the internet universality indicators, which is actually the set of over, so exactly 303 indicators, which document with each of those wrong X principles. I forgot to mention that X is about the crosscutting indicators, which is about some indicators which is common to the all four principles. And all these indicators are divided into six categories, 25 teams, 124 questions. And as you can see, there are some booklet of internet universality indicators, which are available in these rooms. And so the objective of these indicators, they serve as an international standard to access the internet development in a country. So it's helped to develop a clear and substantive understanding of the national internet landscape and policies. It can be used also to assess the gap between those international very high level standards of the internet and the national internet policy and in which areas we can make an improvement and formulate some policy recommendations and practical initiative to improve the internet ecosystem. So these are the basic key thematic areas. I know that Simon is going to introduce each of the categories, so I will not describe that in the details, but actually we have six categories. So right, off next accessibility with the stakeholder participation. And in addition to that, we have some contextual indicators and some crosscutting indicators. And yes, I apologize for the visibility of the slide. We still use the opportunity at UNESCO, Microsoft Technologies, when we put this on the open office, there is a change of the format. But actually this is how we UNESCO used to conduct the assessment. We first established what we call the emergency stakeholder advisory board, which comprises different segments of the internet actors in a country. So I see, you know, this group has a starting point for such an emergency stakeholder advisory board. Then we create a research team. We develop the research actual plan, data, data and data analysis and report writing recommendations that has to go through the national validation process. So yeah, this is a different event where we, you know, we introduced that framework and presented the internet assessment. So today the discussion here is about the national assessment of raw mix indicators in Thailand. Last year, when UNESCO finalized a set of indicators, we asked Art and Dr. Piro Muro from the Juvalongkorn University to do a pilot assessment and using those indicators in the case of Thailand and to see how we should improve the UNESCO's framework. So now that the framework is adopted, we are thinking about really applying those indicators in the case of Thailand. And of course, we are launching a call for interest for those stakeholders who wants to be, who would be interested to be part of the Meretic Stakeholder Advisory Committee and also who can also help us to fill the gaps in Thailand's data because we have the finding of the pilot report which are available and which will be presented later by Simon and Art. We still need to fill some data gaps and improve the analysis and format recommendations. So thank you very much for your attention. I stop here in terms of introducing the assessment framework and yes, I would like to hand over to you if you have any questions regarding the project that UNESCO is launching. Thank you. Yes, I'm sure that Thailand will have an opportunity to answer any of the questions you need to follow. So actually, Thailand is one of the three countries in which UNESCO did this pilot assessment. So Thailand, Brazil, Senegal, yes, completely different countries, different regions. Conducting the assessment, I mean a pilot project from that and then to get the result and then there are some recommendations to that sector of indicators. Has it been adopted and has it been applied to the next sector of indicators? Yes, so the pilot assessment was basically used to improve this international framework. It's made to have really practical view from the researchers about the applicability of some of the indicators which were now incorporated into the international framework. So now we are kind of doing a reverse exercise where we have this framework approved and we try to apply that completely to the case of Thailand. Like as well, this is not a kind of on-size, it's small countries kind of approach either. Because there are over 300 indicators, as you'll see it's selective. But also because there are so many in head of the ideas that will help bring out the character of the internet in Thailand which may be different from the character of the internet in other countries. And I'll say something about that. I think that some of the indicators is common. So whether we put that some groups of core indicators which can apply over the country and the others like the additional one which is customized for the sexist specific characters for this country. Would that be the greater? The indicator is 303 indicators in these two groups that might be applicable for all the countries. So we have some part that we can compare for this country and the other part is basically correct just for this country. Actually we are aiming to have, we have already have selected 100 core indicators which are UNESCO believe as a core to assess the internet in the countries. And so we are focusing on those key indicators to conduct the assessment. How often do we have to read this expertly, what are these indicators like in the years or what are the things that we plan to read specifically? So we are just starting this process for, but actually you know it's not so simple to apply the indicators. If you look at the question, the question is very specific and it's really a research project. So for the case we used to do some analysis based on media development indicators. This is something that is kind of follow up every two years. And in this way we can also I mean feed the world report of UNESCO on you know media and freedom of expressions. But depending on the country situations again you know in the country in transitions for example such as the case of Myanmar when you finish the assessment actually there are so many new laws coming in that you know we have to release the report very quickly and otherwise it's become quickly observed. So it really depends on the country situations but I think every two years is a good way for monitoring the situations. Yeah let me just add that I think the type of work we need to do in research like this is methodology driven also right. So actually in Thailand I'm speaking for Thailand and they have other agency that you know like that far and I the statistics office who are working a lot of indicators on these type of issues. So I think it's a good thing that we are here so that we understand you know how UNESCO international organizations are you know putting their focus on. And they're calling me to help us in order to identify ourselves and maybe do comparisons. But I understand this is the first time for UNESCO to put focus on this right on this process. So we can also give input on our landscape of digital literacy in Thailand as well right. And Simon would talk about that. So I think copyright is at 10.30. 10.15 but already raising them. Oh OK so yes so we can break until 10.30. And come back here at 10.30 so that we can present you the first finding of the assessment report in Thailand. Thank you very much.


still running a company, still being very involved, what have you learned and maybe what things, maybe what fears you had at the beginning that you either have are true or you've managed in a way that maybe you didn't expect? Yeah, I think when you have kids, I know for me I was really nervous about having children because the Sculpt Society was my baby, it is my baby and I know how much time and commitment it needs, right? And so going into having kids, I was very nervous about how I was going to balance it all. I think the biggest learning lesson really had in business and in just becoming a mom is learning how to ask for help and making sure that my time is being spent on the things that are actually moving the needle in the business. What am I good at? I'm really great at teaching class. I'm really great at making content for social media. I know I'm really great at just the creative direction. So just making sure that I'm getting support in the other areas of the business that I can maybe at a high level give direction to but that I don't need to be in the weeds.


Everybody forced here ripping three boxes for Jonathan L Jonathan has a 23-24 prism draft basketball hobby a 2023 Beaumont chrome University football breakers delight and a 2023 tops tier one. We will start with the Prism draft and then go from there As always Jonathan appreciate it and best of luck Chase it when be chase it when be all right. That is a Richard Hamilton also known as rip Rip Hamilton out. That's pretty cool there It's a 99 legacy signatures That dude tortured the magic man hyper Jared McCain Blue Ricky trace Jackson Davis getting some playing time in the Bay area. It's 199 trace Jackson Davis John Rance Yeah, that was fun Jordan. That was a cool one Purple eyes Ricky's Bryce sense of ball the Jazz Ricky to 149 Bryce sense of ball Look at this dude a Dell Curry auto now. Look at the throwbacks in this box Dell Curry To 125 on the auto hyper Charles Barkley mojo Jacoby Walter He is a freshman right now, right? 7 to 25 Jacoby Walter on the mojo. Look at that. Look at that. We got a manga Asar Thompson Rookie manga Asar Thompson That's the pistons this are I'm learning I'm learning I'm learning Pistons Thompson twin right there. There you go. There you go. Jonathan. What a box here Cade base and a booze Ellis out of the 125. You serious right now. He's here. You serious Clark booze Ellis out of the 125 future likely number one overall pick a hyper rookie to Quavion Smith red Jalen Brown 299 He was he was there. Yeah, I was Ellis was there. Yeah, Brandon Miller That is a Cullen Castleton auto to 99 So will Castleton Silver Lillard hyper rookie Ricky Council blue wave of Matas, Bozellus Dude crazy box of 249 and a silver of Marquise Noel Okay, let's do Let's do the Bow menu now keep going with collegiate stuff bow menu and then we'll do tier one Guys like this like this. Yeah We've got the weapons now late in brand of weapons we get late in brass knuckles Showed I'll give Jacob, you know real good showing you how to use them My refractors are Jalen Wright Tyler van Dyke jacquory Brooks Michael Pennix and Bucky Irving a Shock of hunter-deckers Purple mini diamond of Audric estimated at 399 Purple Bucky Irving to 399 Blue Joe Milton to 199 solid Milton Richard Reese first refractor auto. This is number to 499 a refractor auto cam rising to 499 as well And early risers of Dante Moore. Yeah, Chris. I don't love cause for love, but product is just too good It's just too good. I bought into so many breaks of it It's an incredible value. It is the best value that is out in the hobby right now. I think This bone chrome you all right tier one dude, no way Tier one is hot y'all Jersey to 99 Derek Jeter There you go Jeter for Jonathan there and also for Jonathan Number to 10 triple bat relic autograph. You got Ryan Sandberg Andre Dawson and Sammy Sosa What a hit out of tier one Sandberg Sosa Dawson the hawk the Rhino and Sammy Sosa. Yeah, the the cork the cork the bat See that's that's when tier one's fun with stuff like this comes out triple bat relic auto there great hit That's going to the magnet and Melendez rookie auto to 299 MJ Melendez All right, Jonathan congrats dude good stuff. We'll get those out to you


A huge percentage of the health workforce now are migrants and refugees. We need to work with migrants and refugees. We need to see them as valuable people in our society. We need to see that they are the people who take up the jobs that most people in their own host community don't actually want. We need to understand that we need to build their skills in healthcare to make sure that we have enough nurses, enough doctors who can actually relate to other people of different backgrounds too. So people who are different or they're from a different area still have the same access to those hosts. They're integrated into those healthcare systems at the same time.


st because it was raised in public comment in the meeting that we we are in So I I guess what I'm saying is I kind of meant it meant it how I wrote it um May I try to bridge that gap just for a moment and yeah, um, but not respond substantively Add substantively after respond because I think chris Uh chris has a it's thinking of you know, if I'm not mistaken of asking like a clarifying question or um, something like that so as to be able to understand What the um community member is saying Um, right. Yeah, I'm not talking about taking up a different topic or adding to the agenda It's just clarifying and and actually asking more information about the if the member of the public is Asking something asking them for more information about it Um, and I I agree with joe that we shouldn't take up new items And if there's a new item that's not on the agenda it should go to a future agenda item But we should be able to inquire And ask questions about and have a dialogue with the public What if we left? Yeah, so what so but chris you're not suggesting taking out the next sentence about If it were or it's further just you agree with that one. I agree with that one just because We've had an unfortunate experience. I think with that this year. Um, it may be every year Um, just to be able to Be able to to respond to with to that new inquiry thoughtfully Um, and with more discussion as opposed to on the fly Right Once it said public comment is primarily an opportunity for board members to listen but not respond would that help? That doesn't change anything chill No I don't think so primarily. No, okay Um, no It seems to me that you're saying board members cannot ask questions. No, I don't mean that I definitely did not mean you couldn't ask questions. I meant would not Uh, be you know start sort of sharing our opinions about whatever the person has raised. That's what I mean So I didn't mean I didn't mean to eliminate the opportunity for a question asking or clarification So then why we what about this this opportunity for board members to listen and ask clarifying questions if necessary Yeah, I could live with that Are you getting this lisa? I hope yes, I am thanks and ask clarifying questions if necessary. I like that. That's very specific Great, um, uh, and Jonas and then flour Um as as someone who violated this norm a few weeks ago, um, you know, that was a situation where I thought it was It would have been inappropriate for us to leave those comments unaddressed. I understand that these are norms But I am really hesitant to put a muzzle on ourselves You know in the in the in the interest of keeping meetings regulated in situations where We have an obligation to respond to someone in the moment That's happened once in the year and a half. I've been on the board um And I don't want to lose that opportunity or to you know I don't know inflict a pobriam on someone who feels it may be necessary to respond Well, I would say there's no penalty for for violating the norm So, um, and I I think they also though allow us to say If we because I've seen us get into the responding at least three times in my time on the board Maybe not you Jonas, but I've seen it happen multiple times and um, so my feeling is it's just an opportunity for a board member to remind colleagues that we don't this is how we generally do public comment and If someone feels strongly that there's nothing that's that's going to stop them But I think it's important for us to set the expectation for the public too that unless we've said it's a dialogue It's more of a one-way street where we're receiving information that we might then act on at another time I'm on board with that Okay, with that with that approach the word smithing. I'm agnostic about okay But you know, I just wanted to say, you know, I felt very strongly. I know that that night and uh, you know, I Yes, that's all Understood. Thanks flora You're a mute floor. Sorry As far as I understand Can you hear me? No. Yeah. Yeah I keep yeah Okay, can you hear me now better? Yes way better Sorry, my email is a disaster as clarifying questions to understand and I am to live without the mindful But this is something that Like a mid to between gel and Floor we couldn't really hear you but I think you said and ask clarifying questions to Understand I think that's what you said. Yes. Yes Mina, are you Okay, let's see um Just to take stock of where we are um I think the the purpose of asking clarifying questions would be to understand and um, ordinarily so Would that would that seem to actually be uh sufficient? Um, I understand I understand what you're getting out of floor um but uh and and the but I think the purpose is implicit in the In asking the questions other clarifying questions um I think we can be good with that Good enough, but Yeah, yeah, and if we need to we can always change these along the way too But um, how would how would you all feel? based basically delete mindful and um Uh opportunity for board members to listen and ask clarifying questions And the um second bullet Uh, those are the two changes Um, are we ready to vote with those changes? Sorry, can I clarify scott? What was the mind? May I ask a clarifying question? Thank you. Um What was the mindful piece did you take out that whole little phrase practice mindful listening or? No, no, um Well Yeah, it sounds dumb if we practice listening listen. Just listen. Okay. Thanks Yeah, thank you Lisa. It's good um, okay So practice mindful listening is going to become listen Um nice and crisp Uh, are we ready to vote with those two changes? All in favor, please click yes Opposed click no And I vote yes Thank you chris and I see all yeses Thank you very much everybody and and jill most especially thanks to you for um having taken that on um next we have We have board size you know, right Um, and as I recall, uh, sorry brine Why was this going to ask jill to if she can send the updated, uh Version over to us so we can get right now. Yep. I will thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Great. That's okay. No, no problem. Thanks So, um, as I recall and kari, uh, uh, um Stand to your correction if I get this wrong you suggested that we do a quick um Turn around the table on the virtual table, uh pros and cons of 15 and then um straw poll and then small group to carry it further depending on the results of the straw poll Am I am I recalling this correctly? Yeah, I might frame it as pros and cons of A smaller number I'm thinking about the change cons of the small Right. Okay. Very good. But yeah, and just not spend a lot of time if we're not actually going to do anything Yeah, sounds great Thank you. So, um So let's let's just um blitz through this. Um, kari, uh, would you like to go first and then we can kind of Sure. Just Thanks. I've given it a little thought so, um Pros in the came come to mind for me. There's a sort of a democratic element of it. So more, um More reliably be able to fill all of our seats I think that's what's driven the conversation so far is that we have an open seat So we want the towns to be fully represented and equitable whatever our number is Um, and related to that we also would increase the likelihood of contested elections if there were more seats and I think that is um You know any one year to not have a contested election is fine, but you want in your system I think you want contested elections. So voters have choices they can um exercise their their their choice And then some other benefits would be less time spent on recruitment and appointment if you haven't filled all your seats And I also feel others might feel differently about this, but I also feel like a smaller group Is better able to deliberate and is and is easier to administer And I say that based on other board experience. I've had and um, I really liked the u3g board was seven Um, that's the smallest board. I've ever worked for or with and and I thought it worked quite well I'm not proposing that but but um, just as a as a comparison and then one last pro would be and this is Minor but not nothing is that there would be less stipend involved or you could redistribute the stipend that exist to better compensate the others Okay, so and then a few cons while I have the floor I think um, if you have less board members, you have fewer people By definition by definition directly involved and that just reduces your connections in the community I didn't like our old system with 32 board members But one advantage is it had is you had, you know built-in relationships throughout the community that helped When it came for budget time and things like that So you have you know as a result of that you have fewer perspectives around the table unless you actively recruit those perspectives Obviously, there'll be more burden on the directors that are left And maybe that makes you less resilient in terms in times of transition or in times of crisis So those are that's what I came up with Yeah, thank you sounds good. Um Jonas would you like I'm sort of just going to where the squares are on my screen um, I think carry said it all um, you know You know, I I agree that a smaller group is um, you know less unwieldy Um, you know, I you know having said that I don't think that our meetings have gone You know considerably longer with 15 people rather than 10. I don't think we've gotten less done I don't think that we've been less effective Um But but I but I've sensed that the possibility is there Um, I also agree with carry that having more people, you know involved period is you know is is a good Um, that you know, you do get more perspectives. There at least there's the possibility for more perspectives Regarding compensation You know, I'm of the mind that That we should increase the compensation to attract More people to the board. Um, you know, and the the the last thing I'll say is that, you know, you know Not only has Worcester not had You know a third member You know since since march, you know, and I think I make up for that with all the talking I do But you know, we don't have full, uh, we don't have full attendance at every meeting Um, and that seems to me to be a real real problem I also want to thank uh, everyone who put this memo together. It's extensive and comprehensive and really really interesting. Thank you Yeah, um, ditto. Thanks very much, Jonas Diane So again, both Kari and Jonas have said quite on point. Um, I guess my feeling would be I wasn't part of the discussion as to how we came to those numbers Um, so I'm fine either way. I don't I guess I don't right now. We're not in a panic necessarily. We're missing one member I don't know what's going on with maybe a berlin member, but Um, I wonder if that this is where our energy should be Or if we need to just really shore up, um, how we run, you know How our meetings are in terms of sticking to norms And then continue to see about growing that so I just I just wonder about our energy level Excuse me toward looking at this Thank you, Diane. Um Yeah, lindy Ever find my on you I I thought this was a good document. I think 15 is an awful lot of people Um, I thought 32 was ridiculous, uh, but So I'm I think it depends on if we're putting the work into it to get to a vote Um, the stipend I don't really have an opinion on it was a voted on amount And I I don't do this for the money, but maybe somebody else would run for it. I don't know Um, how that that affects I don't really know without a survey to find out how I've heard people say Oh, I don't even want to take the money, but it's a voted on amount. It's not, you know, we have to take it, but um I I feel like If it was two from each town, it would be fine and we might have the contested elections like kari was saying Which we don't have it's hard to get people to run Yeah, thank you Joe Sorry, I was having trouble getting my mouse over to the mute button I don't I don't think I have anything to add from from what we've heard. I thought kari did a really nice job of summarizing the the pros and cons I I I'm definitely am inclined To reducing the size somewhat, you know, I like the idea of Maybe town representation plus at large members as a way to kind of split the difference between having enough people to do all the work and Not having quite, you know, too many or not being able to get equal representation from each town So I I think that's an interesting idea Um, I I am a little bit I think it was Diane who just said like do we have the energy for this at this moment? And I I do think that is a fair question, you know, about whether whether this is the moment or whether we You know agree that yeah, this is something we want to pursue But maybe not quite this second. Maybe not this this year. I think that's I thought that was a fair Fair point to make So I would maybe I guess if we take a straw poll split out Uh, do we want to do this ever from like do we want to do this right now? You know talk about timing a little bit separately from whether we we have an interest in changing the policy At this moment great Thank you. Jill um flora jail and then chris I I don't think I have much to add. I like what curry and Jonas and jails said I am One of the big things about having a at large members to me would be to even further unifies more So I think that having Three members are large would be a really good thing and reducing the poor size. I I do want to make a comment about the stipend I if you can you hear me, okay? We're still yeah This type in it to me is really really important Because as you know as the parents right now we're all meeting Remote so makes it a little bit easier. But if a parent needs to have daycare, right? It doesn't have somebody that can Watch the kids while they are at a meeting for example It just attracts other people that do not have especially as we have to have meetings During the day sometimes that can't really afford to take that time. So we we really need to Diversify the you know how we all look in this not look, but who we are in this board So we're accurately present representing our community. So if we look at the demographics of our schools right now We're not representing those demographics That would be the the only extra I think it's worth looking at it because as everything it takes us a while to get going And it will require a vote We are already too late for march. So this would be november. So maybe it's not something that we pick up right now, but we could start that small group And give them a target date it so because you know all of the legal requirements for For properly warning all these meetings really takes about three months before we can be on the ballot That's it Thank you for the jail chris and then steven so the con that I see is Everyone's spoken to this but just having smaller committees But I really like the idea of bringing community members in to sit on those committees And you know, they then they wouldn't have to sit through long board meetings every other week. Um Which would be probably we get a lot a lot more people interested in just joining the committees to help us do the work Thank you jah Chris then steven So I would not oppose reducing the number the size of the board I think it's always been an odd number Though so you can have a the tiebreaker. It's necessary Um, and I do think it's important though to have a certain number of members from each town in the In the union, uh, and if we're going to go with 11, uh, two members from each town with one at large member And yeah, so and and I actually think we could do it this year I don't think, you know, if we're still have to Pass and uh warn a budget we'd certainly be able to pass and warn a a A vote for the communities to to decide whether or not we want to reduce this they want to reduce the size of the uh, the board Thanks Thank you, chris Steven and jonathan I have nothing substantive to add to the discussion although I would Chris is probably surprised I might be contrary to him. I I think it's not something we try to do for march um I I agree that it would be possible To meet that deadline But I just I don't think it's something we want to put on the plate as an active discussion Amongst ourselves and our community members At this time, I think it would be better to Spend the time and the board coming to a real clear recommendation and deal with it at some time in the future Thanks, steven jonathan If um, jonathan, can you hear? Can you hear us? um jonathan may be away from his battle station At this point, um So, uh, anyway, um We can maybe do a straw pool Who is in favor of Pursuing a change in the numbers Say, uh, whatever that might look like but down from 15 to Say 10 or or whatever it might be um And turning it over to a small group to deal with that um a show of thumbs would be good enough for me for those who um I'm I'm seeing I'm seeing thumbs up. Oh, is that a thumb up jail or sideways? Um It's at an angle Indicating slight approval slight approval Okay, great. Um, I don't see anybody Uh objecting. Do I hear uh an objection? Okay Great um Is there anyone who is especially interested in this who would like to To take the lead and um putting together a small group floor are you uh Are you interested in that? Hey, I'm interested in that just because we did the articles of agreement around that so familiar with the language I don't particularly want to be the lead person, but I'm happy to do the work With with the group Wonderful, um That's great. Uh I'll do it Okay, chris sounds terrific. Thanks. So you'll be the point person for putting together a small group and um Maybe we can have this even though we had our agenda meeting um this morning for The second of december Maybe we can find some space in there if you want to let us know who you've managed to press gang into your into your band of um articles changers Jonas well to to diane's point, you know, I would I would really like to participate in this, but I don't have the bandwidth right now um, I mean if we were going to do this, you know in the summer You know after negotiations are over. Uh, I would I would love to participate Yes Let's think about timeline because when we when we talked about this in the policy committee Uh, we were the storm around the idea of And this this to take into account the stare good um, I guess just the logistics of um a reduced board going into effect was voting it one year, but The actual change not occurring for until the next Town meeting and voting So we were thinking that if we got in this year the change wouldn't go into effect for um board change in terms of composition until uh, march of 2022 We don't have to do it that way but in terms of Taking into account that the community may reject it It or or if they approve it It reduces confusion of how many seats are actually going to be open I'm just saying I think that all I'm saying is there I think there's time Uh, depending upon whether we we're Intent on having it take effect Well, I don't I don't even know how we do that. Um without avoiding a lot of confusion of having going to affect the year we the Year it was approved if it was approved or having it going into effect a year later kind of like what happened with the articles of agreement where The articles were approved and then the board expanded the next year Right only universe right well, um I think what we can do is sort of um, if you want to cobble together a team chris from those who Who are able and willing? um, and then we can just see how you can bring it back to the board and um With some general ideas about how to proceed and then we can take it from there Is that Would anybody um Subject to a uh, a subgroup of three or four not beyond that I wouldn't object. I'm not Yeah, okay, so we'll go with three and a half Yeah, three and a half Okay, somebody who's only Half with it You already have me jill Okay, very nice. Shall we move on then? um, kari, I just want to um Check back with you since you were the um originator of this idea Uh, is this going more or less as you had? Yeah, this is great. This this speaks my expectations And we've got a good sense of the board and we'll see what comes next Okay, great terrific. Thank you very much All right, um, then we can move on to consent agenda um And I would welcome a motion to approve the minutes of november 4 The move Okay, i've got It was the freakness and the kentucky derby all is one um, okay, uh Jonas moves and chris seconds, okay um any discussion of the minutes All in favor, please click yes oppose click no Yeah And chris says yes, so it looks like we're um unanimous approving the minutes now, um Lindy, I'm sorry. I have the habit of turning to you for board orders. I don't know if that's at all fair But um I've got him right here Except that would be wonderful when I just un-mute they disappeared but they're there. Um That's so many windows. I gotta stop this. All right, so um, I make a motion to accept the approve the board orders in the amount of 699 1634 7 cents And 26 406 63 cents Thank you very much. Is there a second? second She'll seconds and um, I have my statutory reminder to send an email, please to um To the central office with your electronic signature in lieu of um any any questions or or concerns about the board orders If not, then if you're in favor, please click yes opposed click no And again the board orders are approved. Oh chris Yeah I'm in favor Thank you. Great. Thanks. Thank you. Um board orders are approved unanimously um personnel We have I believe one personnel action to approve Um, would anybody like Pardon me, lindy. I have it open. Do you want me to read it? I would be delighted. Please Um, I make a motion to accept the resignation of damien middleton at callas effective june 30 2021 second Second regret Yeah, diane seconds with regret regret I share damien survived all three of my children And um, it's still smiling So an amazing guy Um, okay, um any other questions or concerns If not, please click yes if you approve no if you disapprove Yeah, and I'm I'm seeing yeses I'm hearing yeses all along Thank you very much everyone and now finally, um for our, uh very patient long-suffering public Where it um public comments time Help for me Just to organize this if you're able if you have a public comment to make If you're able, please to click on raise hand um, which you get to via the participants icon at the bottom of the zoom screen um And Ah, um, I see barrett jones Hi, you guys. Um, yeah great So, um, I as many of you know am a u32 teacher um I recognize a lot of last names in the screens This is a very interesting time that we're teaching through and we're trying to sort out a lot of different Matters that are involved with Situations that come up that are very unique to our time One of which is The planned closure at callous elementary um Really, I'm just speaking to inform the board and maybe Get you guys to just be a little bit aware of certain situations that are coming about by Some of these actions, um Let me pull up my notes so I have a son at callous elementary, um, and the closure at callous is Causing me to provide child care for my son During the closure At u32 I teach algebra 2 and ap calculus Um So unfortunately our options as a teaching staff Are pretty limited as to how we handle our absence from work Um, so option number one is that we use our sick time Um, this option means that employees Um use their sick time when neither their child nor we are sick Um as the employer, uh, the employer pays out for sick time And needs to find a sub when subs are scarce I saw earlier we you guys were talking about raising the sub pay. I think that's a fantastic idea Um, so option option number two is The epsl and the family emergency medical leave So Once that's applied for and approved If approved The employee is paid up to $200 a day For child care But is unable to find suitable safe child care $200 a day does not cover a full time wage For myself And most of my colleagues So For me personally that doesn't Remain an option in terms of covering My costs of living So i'm i'm wondering if there are other options that could be explored In these types of situations Um, I recognize that this is a very unique time and a unique situation in that Closing the school Creates a situation where I need to stay home to provide child care for my son And ironically enough it is my own employer that's closing the school to To to make that happen so it really puts me in between a rock and a hard place and i'm wondering if As just an idea informational idea that if The district were able to cover the difference between What What could be paid out by the federal government and a full time wage and by do It's uh, let's see the the employer would save money because the employer would be paying Only partially To the employee it would be sub pay Would still need to be covered, but the federal government would be covering $200 a day for that child care piece Um, and then as i'm getting Paid and not using my sick time I feel like i'm more available for my students If the need arises so that that I can interact with them So it's i'm just publicly commenting that maybe there's some some way that can be looked at in the future We are closely approaching The time when callous elementary will be Closing and that is right around the corner. I'm Sure that some other situation might occur in the future where our own employees are forced to stay home for these certain cases and I'm fortunate enough to have been in the district For uh This is my 10th year So I've accumulated sick time and I can afford to take the sick time, but I'm wondering if if a discussion is Could be had for other options Thank you Thanks very much barrett very interesting. Yeah, and um A tough one Um, brian you've taken note. Yes Uh, yes. Yes. I have thank you Okay, um, we'll Maybe we can um Have this At least some reference to this type of issue at our at our next meeting um Uh, thanks barrett Um keith mc martin. Oh old friend um, please Let's see. Let's see you again Um from the public side of the fence Keith. Okay.  Can you hear? Oh the irony? Stop it joe Uh, Keith is that better? Yes. Yes. Yes Okay, I normally have a headset attached so I'm still trying to find that Sorry about that Um So, uh, what I was saying was I I did send an email to the board earlier this week But I'm sure you all saw But I just wanted to Speak up again, I guess and Express my concern about the current covid situation And the numbers particularly in washington county being as high as they are And You know my concern with continuing to have schools be open And wondering about Has there been discussion about going to remote learning? And is there an actual threshold for What that would look like and and I have seen some of the guidance um on You know working with the department of health or or things like that Um, it just seems sort of vague and I guess I wonder if you know the plan is to wait until we have cases in the school or Um, so I'm just I'm feeling like there's not Maybe as much information as I'd like And I'm personally I'm having a hard time thinking about sending my kids to school Knowing that there's so much community spread and and while I appreciate You know what we're being told is That it's not spreading in the schools. Clearly there are cases that are coming into the schools at this point so That's sort of where I'm coming from I think the other thing that I've been thinking a lot about is That I know we did a lot of work to prepare to be able to do remote learning um, so I guess I just Want to point that out and and just say you know, I think it's something we could do um And I guess I'm just kind of advocating for you know some more thought about around that Rather than sort of sitting back and saying well somebody will tell us when we need to which is I don't want to say that's what it feels like, but um It does sort of seem like the Department of Health will tell us and I wonder if it's a decision You know, maybe we should make more proactively. That's my piece Thank you very much case and and yes, thank you for your email also from earlier this week um once more um I guess uh following our board norms. We're looking at um A response that is a little bit um delayed in in time um So, uh, we will have another another coveted discretion update with discretion on at our meeting on the second um, of course, that's two weeks from now so, um And and who knows what will happen in the meantime But um Thank you. We we've we've heard you and appreciate your Your comment Keith. So, um Yeah, it's it's sort of it feels it feels like it's kind of hanging at this point. Um to me, but I guess that's that's what we have to do um So Are there any other public comments? That i'm missing Uh, I don't see any other hands raised um, if not The agenda shows executive session for personnel for superintendent evaluation but um We're uh, we're not quite we're not quite there yet. Um Brian um I think we have this lined up for the second of december Yeah, um, do we have There's no other reason for us to go into executive session. Is there? Uh, not not at this time. No Okay, um So there's yet another one that we're kind of kicking kicking two weeks down the road um a few We have The name change issue and and has discussed the budget forum So, um Is there anything else that we need to add? No, scott. I just wanted to let you guys know uh floor had to jump off So she's not going to do her usual good deed of sending around the board orders Um for all of us to reply to so I'm having trouble getting the packet to stay open Otherwise, I would just do it, but maybe if somebody could start that we could get make sure that gets done I'll do that Sure. Okay, kai I think that the um Yeah, I think that our new Norms call for a new standing Board agenda item A reflection at the end of each You're you're right um, so Uh If there's no objection because the board controls its own agenda. Oh brian brian, sorry I don't have an objection to that. I just wanted to say there was something else that did come up recently I just want to let the board know about it um, and uh, I know that uh Kelly bushey presented the apr report to annual performance report uh earlier this school here And we are a district that was labeled as a need of improvement in certain areas uh So, uh, one of the things that the agency of education has reached out to is Uh, if school districts wish to participate in the something called the ssip, which is the school system improvement plan process They it would be something that would be free to our district and we could enter into a collaboration with the agency of education I'm cautiously optimistic about looking into it. It's something that we're exploring Does it mean that uh, I would want to uh, commit us to it without getting some more information about it But there could be some uh opportunities to get some training Uh, uh, free training from the state, uh around ideas around coaching providing instructional coaching Looking at our mtss system and getting some additional support in those areas without actually paying for a consultant But working with the state in collaboration, but I don't want to commit Until I get more information and I think uh part of the feeling is It is uh, the conversation I've had with some of the folks in a district office Uh resemble very similar to the the conversation the board had tonight with uh talking about, you know, do we want? Is this something we want to tackle this year? Yeah, that's one of the it's we have a lot on our plates, but we're also very tired right now Right before the holiday. So it's something we definitely want to look at and re and explore over the next few weeks So this might be something I will want to add to a future agenda Sounds great Brian. Thank you very much for that. Thank you. Um, so, uh, if there's no objection we can um, we can Go to the reflection that karei quite rightly reminded us is now part of our board norms um, steven has uh, Has reflected on the question did we remain focused on our policymaking and oversight role? um, or did we wade into the operational weeds? uh Steven has made his opinion known that we waded into the weeds Am I right steven? We've also violated the norm that we're not ending on time Thanks for that too The timekeeper one of the norm. I would like to see that instituted Yeah, um, okay karei Related to that I I thought we also delved into I thought we delved into the detail Too much and and I'd be specific about that and this would be for the agenda team and this is only my opinion and um And doesn't reflect at all on our on bryan or our leadership team But I thought that the superintendent report and the leadership team report Were about an hour and a half something like that that we spent on that material lots of Important information there lots of it's always interesting But I would recommend that that be less time and later in the agenda so that we're um fresh and at our best When we're talking about the topics of our goals and our budget and and the things that I think that are Central to our work only we can do Thank you very much karei. Yeah Other other thoughts of this these are great Your your work is already paying off joe diane so just To kind of counter some of that too though I I hear exactly what you're saying karei about it's if it's informational and connective Then later on because it does potentially take less bandwidth of our brains Um, I guess I also feel that they're pretty important, especially during covet time because I can't get out into the buildings. I can't Um connect with people in that way. So especially right now Um while it seems like a lot of information it's it helps to To hear and especially the part about um how exhausted the staff is and so I you know um, I just I think it's it's again. It's part of that, you know, what's Way one person feels flip-flops to another person. So I would agree with it being later on though terrific, um anybody else if not I would propose a future agenda item of Having a wonderful Thanksgiving next week In spite of everything I hope that in whatever Constrained circumstances you find yourselves that you still find uh joy and great food and Good wine if that's your thing So Otherwise that if there are no further Comments or or concerns we can adjourn by consensus at 9 43 With thanks as always Buddy


Big news out of collegiate sports a lawsuit from former and current student athlete at historically black institutions looks to hold to account the NCAA for what they call a systemic and long-standing division and separation In monitoring academic progress among the black colleges and other member institutions here to talk with us today a friend of the So dr. Monique osatelou the founder and chief data consultant at data-driven consulting and solutions Who talks about some of the numbers and the perspectives behind APR academic progress rate in the NCAA and the disparate impacts It's had on black athletes over a number of years. So dr. Osatelou is again, it's an honor to have you on today. Thank you for having me on again. I appreciate it Thank you. So first let's let's give some folks some of your background How long have you been studying? academic progress rate in the NCAA as it pertains to race and to Some of the small institutions and particularly the historically black colleges definitely about five years So it's going on six years. So ever since I started my doctoral program I'm actually a former division one track and field athlete. And so just from my experience I've been interested in just evaluating NCAA and how it works And so I've been doing this through search about for five or six years And it continued to stem from my dissertation which I continue to do after I completed my doctoral program You have discovered that there are Significant differences in the ways that HBCUs receive sanctions and academic progress rate But I think that before we get into that conversation Can you just for listeners who are unfamiliar with what APR is can kind of break down? I guess the formulaic approach that the NCAA has said Here's what it takes for an institution to be Compliant and eligible based on the academic performance of his graduates Definitely. So in theory the APR academic progress rate It's under the umbrella of the academic performance program Which it was a means to be able to track academic progress to go towards graduation So the NCAA tracks two indicators. They look at retention That means being able to retain the same student-athlete at the same institution year after year And then they look at academic eligibility. Are you making progressive? Progress towards your degree Based on those two metrics the NCAA has created a calculation of point system where they give teams a point And so if you meet a certain standard then it determines if you receive a penalty or not And so now the current standard is 930 which they have equated To be equal to about a 50% graduation rate So in theory the whole concept is if you're graduating about 50% of your athletes on your team Good job. If you're not then your athletes deserve to be penalized And it's in hopes that decreasing your competition season not letting you do postseason bans You will redirect your efforts to focus on your academics and improve your graduation rates But note that this metric is based on the previous four years. It's not actually real time What is it that has created some of the disparities for HBCUs in the way that APR is Considered I know that they're multi-layered and they don't target HBCUs but some of the the resource issues with HBCUs and some of the Nuances of when athletes come into a program when they leave when they graduate In comparison to when African-American students typically come into a collegiate experience and when they graduate There are correlations between why there's this constant Idea that HBCUs underperform when academic progress. Can you talk about some of those disparities? Yeah, so like you said, there are a lot of layers to it So when you look at it overall on a high level, it really comes down to resources and mission, right? So as we understand the historical Underpinnings of funding at black colleges how they originally referred to and then they became HBCUs We know that they are significantly underfunded and the institutional wealth gap Just even in division one is very large, right? And so they've already determined that there are about all Division one HBCU schools are in the bottom 15% of athletic budgets for division one And so they're all designated as limited resource Institutions right and so that includes all of our division one HBCUs And so it's a huge difference in resources on an institutional wealth level and then when you break it down a little bit further There is also a resource issue looking at athletic departments in their budgets And so that's a huge thing and so when there are resource issues There are resource issues and be able to support the academic progress of your student athletes So what does that look like? advisors Racial student to athlete advising them on what type of classes they should take to be able to juggle their athletic commitments You know with their course load things of that nature tutoring and so there's so many things that trickles down to the student level based on resources and then secondly is the mission Right? We know the mission of HBCUs. It came from segregation as a means for us to provide us education Us meaning black people. That's how I identify myself Education to better ourselves and get opportunities to higher learning, right? And so it has continued to be of even more use now It's very very useful now because it provides what people say a second chance So giving opportunities for students who are academically at risk HBCUs do a great job at educating first-generation college students low-income students and so things of that nature So their whole student body their mission Even their practices are very different from non HBCUs or predominantly white institutions Which makes it very different to reach this uniform standard. What is what are some of the most? stunning statistics from APR Sanctions between HBCUs and PWIs that you have seen over the last several years that really make you think like wow This is really This is really not fair. This is really there's there's no way the HBCUs can keep up with this What are what are some of the I guess the anecdotes that you have viewed and said this best illustrates? How far this gap is between one set of schools and another yeah, so I think I'll get to the statistics part But it's something that I read literally the first two weeks of me doing this research and I said this is my research area I was reading an article that was written by a researcher at NCAA part of their research team And they basically stated that the NCAA was aware of very beginning when they were even creating this metric That HBCUs would have a challenging meeting this metric However, when they implemented in 2003 They didn't provide any supports to be able to mitigate that discrepancy and being able to reach this metric And so from the start they were already at a disadvantage and it in the NCAA didn't do anything to assist them and provide supports to help But then when I began to really look at the data from the beginning 2003 almost two decades later HBCUs have been disproportionately penalized. So There are times when they're about seven there are years. I can't remember the specific years and I apologize But during the past ten years there have been years about 75 percent of the sports teams that have been sanctioned our HBCUs And it's ridiculous because HBCU athletics They make about six percent of all sports teams, but they are Portionally represented as receiving these penalties. I think for me another thing I saw in my research is I evaluated the very early years so 2005 to 2010 And during that time they had like a two-tiered system where at that time the standard was 900 for the absolutely lowest benchmark And so if you reached 900 you really got more severe penalties Well below 900 overwhelmingly was more non HBCUs below the 900 standard But during that time HBCUs were about three times as likely to receive a penalty When non HBCUs with similar low APR scores receive nothing So it's not an issue How is that possible? You know very good question. I email NCA asked, you know, what's going on? Why aren't they're uniformly receiving treatments and they just let me know what you see in the data is correct So I can't answer that question for you and that's what it really gets to me as far as this inequity in this issue about race Um really coming down to it is because even when you have comparable scores There's still being disproportionately penalized compared to their PWI counterparts What has been some of the data reflective of the ways that I guess the NCAA has has worked to address some of those issues because they've created Funding programs for for schools that have been on a PR sanction, you know We'll give you a grant you can hire a compliance person You can you can get more technology in your department has that changed the trend marks Of punishment and sanction over the years or have you maintained or what what has been the trend now? That's a good point. So, um, the trend has kind of been the same But I did do an evaluation where I did try to see if receiving the funding had a positive impact on APR scores And actually the impact really were with the male teams the men's teams Which is disproportionately more men's teams receiving penalties So it makes sense the teams that are having the most issue you'll actually see the biggest jump So it was effective in helping them reach APR. Was it effective in graduation rates, which is their ultimate goal? That's the that's the that's the question that's still waiting And I think for me the issue that I have with these grants is this whole concept of theory Everything sounds great in theory like they're helping but they literally waited until 2013 10 years after You know these APR penalties have already reached habit and they knew from the beginning that they would and so But still even receiving these grants is still not enough to mitigate that institutional wealth between non HBCs and HBC sports programs Let's talk about the The the idea and I think this is more to your your life as a student athlete What does it mean? From an athletic perspective if you see a team on sanction, you know You can't compete in postseason play. Um, in your case, this would be, you know, track and field nationals You know, certain invitationals, uh, you know to not have the same level of practice time That plays a major role in your being you're being able to compete with the best in the country Um, from a from a from a marketing perspective or a recruitment standpoint How do those those sanctions really embed into family's decision and athletes decision to choose one school over another? Definitely. So let's say I'm a freshman coming in If they did not meet the APR metric the previous four years and I'm coming in I'm automatically going to be penalized as well Even though this is my first time stepping on campus and sitting down in the classroom And so what ends up happening is this whole theory that I've been developing of it's about the dismantling of HBC Athletic programs through the use of institutional policies, right? And so it's this idea that If I'm going to if I want to go to an hbc This is the institution I want to go to but they have a penalty I am then going to look at other options and what you begin to see is literally this hydraulic displacement of black athletic talent Leaving hbc use and going to non-hbc use not because that's their original intent But because of these barriers that have been implemented by academic policies that ncaa has had A constant pattern of using them to disadvantage not only black institutions, but black student athletes And I can say because I was a former track and field athlete If I was in that position, I'd be lucky because it's an individual sport So They have some waivers to allow track athletes if you were okay You weren't the one to cause it to be able to compete But if you're in a sport like a team sport like football Basketball then if your team doesn't make it regardless of how well you did you miss out on that opportunity for march madness To be seeing that visibility of allowing us to be on that that platform Do you feel like HBC use are at a disadvantage not in the way of of competing in the in the air of apr But our ability resource wise to just to game the system For example, you hear all the time about football teams basketball teams Men's and women's basketball A certain set of scholarships can go to a certain amount of students who would perform well and rise the tide Of the overall, uh, you know graduation rate at the team Um, it is it's not cheating, but it is it's gaming the system That's something that you think smaller schools agencies just can't Can't take advantage of because scholarship, you know Alliances are what they are. Here's the mission of the school What do you think prohibit the school from from diving into those loopholes like other institutions do? Yeah, definitely. So like you said, there's a lot of layers I mean you begin to peel back the onion you really realize that apr actually is based only on student athletes who are receiving scholarships So it's not based on the entire team only those who are receiving student Athlete scholarships And so like you said if if you're at an institution that has a great endowment awesome booster club They can create these scholarships so that you can still be funded You know, I know that I have an athlete that is not going to be a high academic achieving athlete But they're amazing on the field on the court We need them for this actual enterprise of athletics And so what they'll do is they will provide create these alternative Institutional scholarships and that student has a full ride and they still get to participate in everything like that HBCs don't have that latitude and flexibility to really gain the system in that way and then on top of that Programs that have more resources. They actually have people that that's their job is to figure out How we're going to meet the apr metric and let's intervene because if I see something's all I can actually say go to the coach and say hey You got a few athletes that are going to cause you all to miss this apr story You need to make some adjustments again that staffing that support that more comprehensive Athletic academic programs have that is not comparable at all hbc use within division one You've been doing this work for years. You've done a whole bunch of interviews about your research and analysis of these numbers I got to tell you it's not your question to answer, but I will ask it Do you ever wonder and look at like, you know, why the hell do hbc you stick with it? And and what or what alternatives could be? Obviously if you're going to stay with it the answer is more money Why did that then then you ask the question or have you ever found yourself asking the question? Why do you keep running into this wall? Yeah, I asked myself that question. I also ask myself Are there efforts to actually challenge this metric from hbcu leadership? Just because I do research quantitative research So I don't always get the people to people interaction So I do have those questions and I and I do ask myself Why if you know that it's disadvantage in your students and having an adverse effect on your athletic programs I don't know why but it is something that definitely does keep me up at night wondering, you know I see it. I'm showing the data. I'm showing these issues and why after two decades there hasn't been any change There's a fascinating question and and we are grateful that you are a thought leader And a numbers cruncher on these efforts Plug your plug your plug your company So we can get you on campus talking about some of these issues and consultants of our hbcu's On apr issues and possible solutions Yeah, definitely. So I'm founder and chief data consultant of my data consulting firm data driven consulting and solutions Where I do just this I provide data analytics to be able to help collegiate athletic departments improve academic outcomes and the list goes on Um, and you can reach me at ddcns.com You can also find me on my twitter handle at monique. I should tell you or also on linkedin on my name Monique. I should tell you


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Basically, this session aims to teach and educate about the basics of container security layers, which are C groups, namespaces, a paramour, secomp, and capabilities. This talk won't be a super technical talk, but we do want to, but I do want to speak about how do they work and about the strange cases when you need to run your applications, or containers, with additional privileges, and the solution for this, the general solution, the common one, is to run it as privileged. And this actually is really common, but it's not a secure use case, because running containers as privileged can pose a big risk. So we're going to talk about that and about what we can do in order to avoid such situations, but also grant the additional privileges to our container. So let's start with an introduction. My name is Aviv Sasan. As you can see in here, I'm a proud dog owner. I'm a principal security researcher with Prisma Cloud and Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks. Mainly my job is to support the security efforts for the product, and in addition I'm part of our initiative to contribute to the security of the cloud ecosystem, and we're doing this by looking for vulnerabilities for zero days. In the ecosystem, we report them and make sure that they are patched. And this way customers are happy and secure. So let's start with the agenda for today. So I know this is ContainerCon, and I guess most of you have a decent knowledge about containers, but I still want everyone to be aligned. So we do a really, really quick brief about containers. Then we'll continue to containers limitations, what you can and cannot run inside your container. And then we'll go to the solution to run privileged container. And we'll talk about why this is not the best solution in most cases, for example in production environments. And then we'll talk about the better solution, what we should do. And the better solution is to configure strict security policies for all of the layers we're going to talk about today, which are capabilities, second, up-armor, C-groups, and namespaces. So in this way we can grant our container only the additional access privilege, instead of just writing it as privilege and give it all of the permissions that are possible. And after that we go to the takeaways, which will be more practical. So let's start with containers. So you all know containers, they are great, they are based, they are an operation system virtualization technology used to package applications and dependencies. You can put it in images, they're super portable. You can use Kubernetes for scalability, and they're really efficient, unlike virtual machines that have their own kernels. Containers have shared the same kernel as the host, and there's only one kernel for each host and all of the containers. So there's no overhead of many kernels like virtual machines. And containers also provide additional layer of security. So basically containers provide isolation. And I know you see all of the words in here, like namespaces and C-groups, and we'll dive deep into them later on the slide, so this is just a brief. And I just want to say that isolation is done by namespaces, and each container, as you know, is not aware of other containers on the host. So in case the container is compromised, then the attacker inside the container won't be able to expand his grip to the host or to other containers. Now other than isolation, containers have limited resources. And when I say resources, I mean CPUs and memory and stuff like this. So those limitations are done by C-groups. And the third one is that containers actually run with low privileges. And this is because if we run them with high privileges, then they will be able to escape the container and compromise all of the containers in the same host and the host itself. So the mechanisms that enforce those low privileges are capabilities, second, and a parmore. Now you might be asking yourself, so does containers have limited functionalities? And the answer is yes, in general, in the default policy. So for example, if you want to mount or load or unload kernel module, you'll get blocked because containers doesn't have that privilege. If you want to load or unload ebbf programs, if you want to do some IP tables operation or syslog operations, you won't be able to do so. And you might be saying to yourself, all right. So containers really aren't meant to do such heavy lifting operation. And that's actually true. But there are some cases when your containers, your applications, will need those privileges. So for example, if you are running a monitoring or security tool, so this container, this application would need a lot of privileges in order to inspect the environment. And if you want to run it, you'll get blocked by default. If you want to, for another example, run an advanced networking tools, again, you'll be blocked. If you want to direct hardware access, not possible. And for example, the strange case of Docker in Docker, which is actually running Docker daemon inside a Docker container, you also won't be able to do so. So let's talk about what we can do in such cases when we need our container to have additional privileges. And the first and simple solution is to run it in privilege mode. So for those of you who doesn't know what is privilege mode, it's basically a mode to run the container in, which disables all of the security layers. So basically, you have full privileges as the host of the same privileges as root on the host machine. There's still isolation over there because you are inside the container, but this isolation can be broken fairly easily. And the main risk in privilege container is that the container will break out and just to illustrate how to do so and the fact that it is really easy to do. So for one example, you can just mount the host file system. This is possible if you run a privilege container. After that, you can add a user to your host and then connect to SSH with that user and the password. You could also add an SSH can connect, or you can just create a cron job that will be executed as root on the host and the attackers will be able to execute any code that they want. And in addition, if the attackers even want to go ballistics on this one and they don't want to run as root, but they rather run in the context of the kernel, they can just load the kernel module and execute their code over there. Now, after the attackers are breaking out of the containers, they'll be able to access other containers and the host machine. And from that, depending on other policies from the orchestrator or DevOps, other configurations, the attackers might be able to do some other stuff. For example, take over the whole environment, interact with other nodes, and manipulate some data. So we do want to keep this boundary of containers in order to keep risk as minimum as possible. Now, the point of this talk is not to run privilege container, but run your containers with additional privileges. So in order to do so, because we have to, the best practice is to configure strict security policies that grant the minimum privileges required. Now I know this is kind of vague, and that's why we're going to dive deeper into what this actually means. Now the first thing we need to know, need to understand is what are actually those container security layers, we need to understand what they do, how they work, what are the policies, how they look like, and how can we modify them. And after we gain this knowledge, we can start working. And the first thing we need to know is, we need to determine the minimum required privileges for applications. So for example, if we have an advanced networking tool that we need to know that, for example, you need to have the CapNet admin capability. So we need to profile it in order to know what we want to grant. And then we just need to configure it and apply it to our container. Now this might sound easy, it's not that easy, and that's why I'm here to teach you how to do it. So let's start with container security layers, and what they are. Let's start first with capabilities, the first one. So in the past, when you ran a process, it could run in two modes. The first is privilege, which actually means that it runs in the context of route, and the second one is unprivileged. And this pose kind of a risk because, for example, if I'm running a process that only need to do some raw socket operations, there's no reason that it will be able to mount or load kernel modules or anything else. I just wanted to do some raw socket operations. And in the past, I couldn't grant my process this permission without just granting everything. So if it got compromised, I'm in big risk. And that's why in the present we have capabilities, which is basically a Linux kernel feature that takes the privilege, when I say privilege again, it means running a script, and they just divided all of the privileges of that mode into small byte pieces. And for example, we have a Capsis truth, and in order to allow your process to run truth, you don't need to run it as truth, you can just give it Capsis truth. And if it got compromised, the only thing that this process will be able to do is truth. So basically, it's just fine-grained privilege management, which is great. And of course, Docker and containers in general use this mechanism to enforce security. And as you can see in here, this is the default capabilities for Docker. As you can see, there are a lot of capabilities in here. But again, sorry, but there are many other capabilities that are not in here, and Docker did remove from the default policy. So let's talk about what we can do if we want to add a capability to our container. And this is the first one, so it's kind of easy. And Docker allow you to just use the flag cap add. So for example, you can use Docker run, cap add, cap net admin, and then give our container the additional capability that we require. And this is great. It works perfectly fine, but if you want to go ballistics on this one and enforce maximum security, then you could profile your application, understand what are the minimum required capabilities. And I say minimum required, I mean a subset of the default. So it's less than the default one, and of course, like for example, cap net admin, and then grant it to your container. And this way, you will maximize your security. For example, one example of how to do so is using the tool, the AgenProof, which actually is part of the up-armor suite. So this tool is used for profiling applications. It does it dynamically, and it yields up-armor profiles that includes capabilities. So for example, here you can see that I profiled ping, and the capability that I got from AgenProof is cap net row. Now I just want to emphasize the point that if you're going to profile your application, you need to do it in the right way. And you need to trigger all of the functionalities of your application, your container, so that AgenProof will be able to collect all of the privileges of the capabilities that you need. So for example, if we have a web server with an endpoint that mounts, then if we're not going to trigger these endpoints, AgenProof wouldn't know that your application needs the cap sysadmin, which is used for mounting. And when you'll deploy your application with the policy, then everything will break when someone access these endpoints. So this is something I wanted to emphasize. And if you want to use this methodology of work, what you should do is just run docker run, cap drop all, which means you drop all of the capabilities. And then you use cap add, which will add the capabilities that you'll need. And this way, you'll have the minimum required capabilities. All right, second one, let's go over to Secomp. Now, Secomp is a secure computing mode. It's also a Linux feature, Linux kernel feature. And basically what it does is it blocks the execution of syscall. So when you execute the syscall before the execution itself, it goes through the Secomp mechanism in the kernel. And Secomp decide if the process is allowed to execute the syscall or if whether it's not allowed to execute the syscall. And this one is a great security layer because other than blocking some syscalls that you should not be able to use, it also helped minimize attack vector in other ways. So for example, if there are some kernel vulnerabilities in some syscalls that you're not aware of, then it is possible that Secomp will block you from using those syscalls by default because you don't need to use them. And then attackers won't be able to exploit them. And another point I want to emphasize is that it disabled by default the unshare and setNS syscall, which we're not going to dive deep into this one, but they allow you to change your process namespace. And if you change to another username space, then you'll be able to gain all of the capabilities you want. So in this way, you can bypass the capabilities layer. But if you have Secomp and disable unshare and setNS, then you won't be able to do so. So let's go over to Docker default second profile. So as you can see, it's a whitelist for syscalls. Here you can see a part of the profile. And Docker say that they disabled around 44 syscalls out of 300. If you want to go deeper on this one, you can check the link down below and see the default profile. So that's how it looks like. And you might be saying to yourself, all right, so I ran some containers. That's what I do. And I use the cap add, for example, and put capsys truth in there. And Secomp didn't block me. I was able to do so. And the reason for that is that Docker default second profile is more sophisticated than this. And it has some paragraphs, some sections over there that's saying, for example, on this one, if the container starts with capsys truth, then we're going to allow truth. So basically, if you run your container in Docker and use cap add, then you'll be able to bypass the capability security layer and the Secomp security layer and execute those syscalls that are relevant to the capability. But the default configuration is great. It's really good. But there are some cases when it could be a little bit more permissive. So for example, if we start our container and give it capsys admin, then we'll be able to execute all of those syscalls in here. And there are more syscalls that are not in this presentation because I haven't had enough space to put it on. But if I want to, for example, just be able to run sethostname, then I'll grant capsys admin. And other than be able to sethostname, I'll be able to do anything I want, for example, setns. So we talked about this. This is not a good one. So this is kind of permissive and can lead to some security risks. So let's talk about what we can do and what is the recommendation. And the recommendation is that if you have an application that needs additional privileges, you need to just give it the minimum required access permission. So the recommendation, the easy one, is to just take the Docker default second profile and remove the excessive syscalls. So for example, if we want to use sethostname, then we should just take the default second and remove all of those syscalls over here. And then when we'll run capsys admin, then we have the capability, but we will only be able to run sethostname and not stuff like cellness. All right. And again, if you want to go ballistics on this one for maximum security, then you should profile your application and create a custom profile. One example of profiling could be just run srace-c. So in this example, you can see that I ran srace-cls. And I got all of the syscalls that my application needed, as in this case. And again, I want to emphasize this. If you want to profile your application, you need to make sure that you trigger all of the functionalities so that the policy will include everything you need and not just some part of it. So when you put it in production, it will be able to operate and not break. Now, if you want to use your custom second profile, you could do it by just executing docker-run, security op secomp, and then the path to your profile. All right, let's go to the third layer, which is uparmor. So uparmor is a Linux kernel security module. It's a great module, and it allows you to do a lot of things in restrict operations in a lot of ways. So for example, it allows you to restrict capabilities, file access, networking, and much, much more. In essence, basically, it is a whitelist profile. But if you take a look at the default docker uparmor profile, you'll see a blacklist and not a whitelist. And the reason for that is that in the beginning of that profile, docker allows you to do a lot of things. And after that, it just excludes the more dangerous stuff. So you'll be able to execute a lot of functionalities, but not be able to execute dangerous one. So if you want to go and check out the profile, you can go and see the module project over there in the link down below and see the full uparmor profile that comes by default. Now let's talk about recommendation. So the recommendation is to configure an uparmor profile for each container that need additional privileges with only the required access privileges. I know I said it a lot of time, the minimum required access privileges. And it's because there have been so many talkings about privilege container. But still, until this day, people are running the container as privilege. And these pose so many risks, as we talked about before. So that's why I'm emphasizing this point. So the easy way, the recommendation after how to do so is just take the default docker uparmor profile and just add the access requirements. That's how you can do it more easily.  And this can be done by AgenProof. GenProof, as we talked about in capabilities. So this actually is a purpose of AgenProof. It's a great tool. It just yield your uparmor policy for your application. And again, you need to trigger everything in order to get the full profile of your application. And once you do, you can use it by running docker run, security opt, uparmor, and then your profile. All right, so fourth one, let's talk about C-groups. So C-groups also a Linux kernel feature. It allows you to allocate, limit, and prioritize resource. Ritual says such as usage, memory, networking, GPU, and stuff like this. And basically, it helps you to ensure that each container has its own fair share of resources. And security-wise, it ensures that one container does not exhaust all of the systems. So for example, if an attacker compromised one of my containers and deploy a crypto miner over there that takes all of the CPU and memory, then other containers won't be able to operate. And other critical processes on the host machine also won't be able to operate because of that. So that's what C-groups is for security-wise. On docker, there is no CPU or memory constraints for C-groups. I know that some of you may have ran your containers and got out-of-memory exceptions. And I just want to emphasize that this is not from C-groups. This actually comes from the kernel saying that it cannot execute some vital processes. So it just kills your container and frees some memory. OK, let's go to a recommendation for C-groups. So this one is really straightforward. The recommendation is to set limits according to the required usage. Depending on your application, you all know what your application do. And that's what you do. So you can do it by using some flags provided by docker. If you want to have some more information, you can go and check the link down below. And here are two examples. If, for example, you want to limit your memory to 300 megabytes, you can do it by writing memory equal 300 m. And if you want to limit it to only use two CPUs, for example, you can just use the CPU's flag. OK, so last one, namespaces, and my favorite. So namespaces also Linux kernel feature that provide processes with their own system view. So basically, namespaces are the essence, the feature that allow the isolation in containers. And as you can see, there are a lot of namespaces. And let me explain what is actually a namespace. So for example, let's take the net namespace. So the net namespace is a namespace for network interfaces. And that actually means that if I have a container with a namespace A, net namespace A, and I have container in net namespace B, then one can have a network interface. And the other can have another network interface. But when you look inside your environment, each container won't be able to see the other one. They couldn't see the other network interface. So that's great isolation. And if we talk about pin namespace, it's actually for processes. So if I have one container here and one container on another namespace, then if they run stuff like PS, they won't be able to see the processes on other containers. And that's the basic for the isolation. Other than both of them, we have the IPC namespace, which is for inter-process communications, stuff like semaphores. We have the MNT namespace, which is for mounts. We have the UTS namespace, which is for hostname and for domains. And we have the username space, which is for users. Now let's talk about the Docker default namespaces. So when you start container in Docker, the container engine will start the container. And it will create five namespaces, speed, net, IPC, MNT, and UTS, for your container, and then will move your container into those namespaces. So each container actually run in different five namespaces by default. And that's why containers can't see each other. Now you might see that one namespace is not over here, which is the user namespace. And the reason the user namespace is not used by default in Docker, because this one is kind of tricky. It's an advanced, more advanced feature. And it could cause some complications when running containers.  So for example, if I have a mount on my container, and there are some files over there that need root permission, and I try to read them, then although I am root on my namespace, I won't be able to access those files because I'm not actually root. So that's one of the issues over there. Now let's talk about the recommendations. So the recommendation, Docker did a great job. And the recommendation is just to run your containers with a default setup. It works great. If you need to run your container with some namespaces with the host, I can't figure why you should do it. But I would recommend just to avoid it. Don't do it. Just use the default setup. All right. And so let's go to the better practice. So the better practice, as you might imagine, will be to run with user namespace. If you want to know how to do so, you can check the link down below. And before you're doing so, I would ask you to make sure that everything works before putting it in production because sometimes it can cause some issues. It is a great feature, but it could cause some issues. And environments can just go down on this one. So let's go to the takeaways. Let's see things I want you to take from this talk. So the first one is that some containers need more privileges. It happens, and they need to do so, and it's OK. But if you run them as privileged, there is a big risk over there because they can just, if they get compromised, attackers would be able to escape and compromise other parts of your environment. So in order to grant your container the relevant privilege, without trying it as a privilege container, you should just configure strict security policies for all of those layers that we talked about. They grant the minimum required privileges. And in this way, you'll reduce the risk in case the container is compromised. Now, some more practical advices for developers who publish their applications as container applications. You should, the advice is to profile your application at a second and up our profiles to your repo so that your customers, your clients, will be able to use those profiles instead of running your container as privileged. And if you are running your applications as Docker, then you should provide a full detailed command line that uses all of the policies we talked about, including the second and up our more profiles. And if you're using Kubernetes, you should modify your YAML in order for you to enforce all of those policies and just add them to your repo so that customers and client would be able to use those configuration in a simple and easy way. And that's about it. So I want to thank you all for coming to this session. You can find me on this email and on LinkedIn. And if you have any questions, I'll be happy to reply. Thanks. Thank you, everyone.