Your little bundle of joy is just a non-stop source of sleeping peace. Yep. And then there's your son. Don't talk about my son. If you're interested in eating some Corbin, I'll read it. And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Come on, juicy content. It's so juicy. You don't know why I'm laughing. I will punch you in the face. And thank you for your so-so patron, I'll follow official Twitter accounts. Today, we are going to train. What? But we've seen- That's so outside the box for us, Corbin. I don't know how to handle it. We've seen a song from it. Then it must be Sholay. What? No, it's from Per- Per-ring-ta. Per-ring-ta? Per-ring-ta? Then that was in at the end. Per-ring-ta? But... Talk? Thank you. It was great. What more benign? How would you say that? Peranita. Peranita. Oh. Yeah, P- Yeah. Peranita. I would assume that's the pronunciation. Well, this is the one we just reacted to the other day. So why are we doing it now? We've done it before. Know the song. with Saif Ali Khan.  Yeah, yeah. The one I had to cut up a lot. Yep, yep, because I had to. And I appreciated the guitar playing of Saif Ali Khan. Yeah, they said he can't actually play the guitar. It's obvious. So it was obvious, by the way, he was putting his hands on the fret. And I believe it was, um, what's her faces? Uh, what's her faces? What's her, um, from Connie, what's her name? Oh, Vidya. Yes, I believe this was her first big role. Oh, okay. I think that's what they said. Cool. Well, that song was really beautiful. You can get it out of our head. And so this is the trailer to that film.  What year did this come out? This is a while back, right? Yeah. Old enough so that it could be in a time that land forgot. It's possible. Oh, yeah. Here we go. I know the bridge. Yes. Just cut up again. You ready? We can cut up, everybody. The song is the whole trailer. Is that the same train tracks? Yeah, it looks like it. And introducing. Yeah, so great job. Uh, thank you for subbing that. Yes. Also, the parts that like they sold us the instrument that was in it, they told us who was in it. Thank you. That's, that's awesome. Also, if you do sub course, you can put your name so you can get the, yeah, you can get a shout out at the end there. If you do the subs, you can put your name on there, but please, they may not want to. Yeah. Yeah. If you don't want to, of course, but that was, that was really, I do remember from the song immediately when I put it on Patreon, when I put it on the thing, everybody was like, this is a fantastic film. Yeah. That's what I remember. Yeah.  That's one of the most iconic moments in all of Sartaj's history. I'm just saying, shoot her in the mouth. And the best part was circling. It didn't work. Ready? Try again. Let me try if the mother, mother's maiden name is mad. Here, little kid, put your hand on the screen. It didn't work. If you haven't seen our Sacred Games reactions, you're not a real subscriber. And if you haven't seen Sacred Games, what are you doing here? Go watch Sacred Games. Go watch Sacred Games. Season's 1 and 2. Everybody dies. Interesting. Looks like there's, so this came out in 2005, it looks like, but there's another one that has the exact same name, a remake, came out this year or is coming out this year? Well, if it was 2005, it would be 14 years, I guess.  It does. I keep thinking it was a few years ago. I know. We're about to be in the roaring 20s again. I'm looking forward to that. It is. We're going to be one of the roaring 20s. But yeah, the lifelong romance between Lolita and Shakar is upset by the arrival. That's right. That's what it was. Yeah, we read that the other day. So he's not married to her. No, but this is going to make me sick. They're like in love with each other and then she's going to have to marry somebody else and does. And that's going to make him heartbroken because he's the woman that she loves and he won't know the real reason. That's the other part of the story. If you get to keep going there, what he discovers is that she married this guy for reasons he didn't understand and what he wanted to tell her was that he was formerly a woman and what he doesn't know is that she was once a man. They're living their best life. Yep. But yeah, please let us know how this was. This does have three actors that we know. We haven't seen actually outside of Sacred Games anything from Saif Ali Khan, you know. No, we wanted to see his movie but they didn't release it. They didn't release it here, which was strange. I know. I was looking forward to all the parts of the Caribbean stuff.  Because Saif Ali Khan tag teamed with Akshay Kumar, he is in the conversation as part of the cheesy 90s videos. Yeah, but it's Akshay. Oh, he just tagged along. He tagged along. Yeah, so let us know how this is. If it's- Oh, I absolutely would love to see this. Did you know that you didn't- people were making fun of you hard in the, when we did the music video, saying that you totally missed all of the Calcutta stuff? Oh, I know. It was so funny they were just trolling you. I know and it's because I remember in the video I was so enamored with the song and sincerely, when they were in the boat, which was the bridge shots, you know what I was looking at? No, what? Hold on, what was it? When they were in the boat. Don't try to remember it. Which is when they show the bridge in Calcutta.  Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't looking at anything but his hands. Yeah, Sartaj, he's a good looking guy. I was looking at him playing the guitar, so they could have been on top of burning bushes. I wouldn't have remembered the burning bushes. I would have remembered his hands on the guitar. Why is that the thing that came to you? It was on top of burning bushes. Because that's like a Moses. That was a burning bush. He was on top of a burning bush. He was on the original text that says he was on top of it, doing the fandango. This has gone off the rail. Way off the rail. Sorry about that, but yeah, this, I mean it looks like a, I don't know if it's a full-on romantic comedy. It looks like it has a lot more drama in it than a just a regular old romantic comedy, right? Yeah, because obviously it's about a love of the coot, a fair of the coot, a fair of the coot, fair of the heart. Learned from Parks and Rec. You learned that from Parks and Rec? Parks and Rec. Cool. We're really going off the rails now. No, but that's what it looks like, right? Yeah, as long as it's not like a heartbreak, like if you've all seen it, like Devdos. I don't think they've ever seen Devdos. You guys know about that film? We have a great movie to recommend for you guys. It's off the rails enough. Goodbye.


Hi, this is Ella for What I Work. Today I'm going to show employees how to set availability on an Android device so you can let your managers know when you prefer to work, when you'd rather not work, and when you don't mind working. By default, the app will tell your manager that you don't mind when you work. So to specify certain times, tap on Change My Availability, then hit the plus icon. You can put a date range when the specific preference is effective and set a rotation if you'd like. When you're done, tap the check mark. You can create as many availability preferences as you'd like. To delete a preference, tap on a current one, then hit the trash can icon and confirm. Once you set your availability, your manager will be able to hit your scheduling sweet spot when making the schedule, and that's pretty sweet.


Surah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim, Inna Al-Hamda Lillah, how do we start? Certainly, certainly without a doubt, all praise, thanks and gratitude belongs to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We praise Him, we thank Him. Allah says in His book, O believers, be mindful of your master, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The way He deserves it. Don't you dare forget what we just said, which is the mindfulness of Allah. And there are no circumstances. Don't you dare find yourself in a state that you are departing this world, yet you are not in full state of submission. That's what you hear every Friday. So here's what I'm about to say. I was thinking when my brother Asif called me a million times that I have to do this. I rejected the million times, but hey, when Asif says do, you got to do it. What am I going to talk about?  I'm hoping it's nothing new for you. And here's a joke I make all the time. When I ask my kids, my boys, when they attend Khutbah, they say, what did you learn from Khutbah? And their common answer, almost 99% of the time, is nothing. And if you come out of this Khutbah and your answer is, I didn't learn anything. I accomplished my goals because I just told you what you know. Khutbah is about to be a reminder. That's what I'm trying to do, remind you. There are a couple of words that you heard. I'm going to take you to a surah, the third surah, al-e-amran, al-amran in Qur'an. In particular, two ayats. I'm going to take you there. You have heard it over and over again. I'm just going to probably give you a different light, insha'Allah. And Allah says this on ayah number 32 of al-e-amran. He says this, I've heard this a lot. And I've heard this being, I'm giving this advice from my dear brothers all the time. Often translated as, obey Allah and the messenger. Obey Allah and the messenger. That's how it's been always translated. As I was mulling over the different scholars, what they say, and here's what I found out. A different light. The word wa, and, at the Allah wa, has been a little bit different, translated differently. So let me put it in some sort of perspective and example for you. That says, obey Allah. That is to say, obey the messenger, sallallahu alayhi sallam. That means if you want to know who Allah is, and if you want to know what Allah wants from you, you have to get down to prophetic tradition. You have to understand what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam did in the situation that you are. So goodness. That means in order to get closer to Allah, you must be in full compliance with what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam did. That's what it means. I'm going to skip the latter part of the area because that is a little different, scary. Why? Let me tell you something else. You have heard basheeran when adheeran, basheeran when adheeran a million times, right? One of the mission of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam was to give good news, glad tidings, and also warn you. Good news and warn you. It's not all good news, and you just feel good and ignore things. That's not how it works. That's what this ayah is about. The warning court, I'm going to come back to it in a bit, in a few minutes, inshallah. First of all, I have to say, I don't think I can do justice to these two ayahs that I'm about to recite, but part of my mission has been all along.  The whole point of this is to create some sort of curiosity that you will go ahead and talk about it and read about it more. The first thing I said, the first thing I said, obey Allah, that is to say, obey the messenger sallallahu alayhi sallam. Here's what is really, really, really important for you to know from this part of the ayah. Please, sorry for all those I'm trying to spit on you, please pay attention. There is the absolute minimum that we are required to do. Often I give examples for students, because I stand in front of the students and do habahabahabah quite often. So all of you guys who are students, if you want to pass, if you want to get a passing grade or you don't want to get a chapat from your daddy, you got to get a C at the minimum. Otherwise you get one of those gifts. Okay? C is minimum. That's what this ayah is about. Your minimum, absolute minimum is to know the prophetic way that is applicable for your situation. What does that mean? I am a father. I am a son. I am a husband. At each situation and an employee, at each situation I see what the prophetic tradition was, characteristic was, I have to apply that to my situation at that moment and is exactly what that is for you as well.  You have to know what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam did recommend it and suggested and actually followed that which you're going to follow.  You have to understand that you're an IT manager. You have to understand what the situation is for you. That is absolute minimum. Now, for you and I, we do not want to be minimum. We all want to elevate ourselves as we recite the last ayah of the khutbah that I would recite again, inshallah, that you have to elevate yourself to the next level. What does that mean? In order to obey the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam and understand Allah, the next level is ayah number 31. The one I just recited to you was 32. 332. Look it up. What does 331 says? This is the following. In kuntum tuhaibbuna Allah. Take one word at a time. In kuntum tuhaibbuna Allah. If you should love Allah, that means if you're absolutely sincere and you constantly... You know what we always say? Brother, love Allah. Try to love Allah. Follow love with Allah. What does that mean? How do you do that? Practically, how do you do it? Allah gives you the answer. If you should love Allah, then what? Allah's commanding Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam says to tell everyone, which I'm telling you, follow me. Means not me. Follow the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam. This is the next level. This is loving. This is not just following. It's not atiyah Allah or atiyah Rasul. It is loving, falling in love, lovingly, willingly, loyalty. That's what it is. What are you going to get? You can say, okay, what am I going to get out of this? Trying to fall in love with Allah and follow the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam providing the solution. What am I going to get out of it? What is in it for me? Everyone says that, right? If I say, hey, brother, do this for me or my son. I say, do this for me. And he's going to say, what's in it for me? What am I going to get out of it? Why?  Allah will love you back. Pay attention and just ponder. If you get the love of Allah back, what else do you need? You don't need anything else, any success that you want in this world and elsewhere, you will get it. How do you get that? Allah says, follow the prophetic tradition. Allah will love you back. Your Habibkum Allah. Okay? If that is not good enough, Allah says, Allah will lovingly forgive every single thing that you have done. Everything that you have done. Wipe clean, clean slate. That's Allah's promise. Think about it. If you want to be loved by Allah and everything that you have done, since you got up this morning until now, we can assure you there's quite a few things we did that's not kosher. If you want all to be forgiven, follow the prophetic tradition. Fatiha. Allah is the one who is exceedingly forgiving, exceedingly merciful. The last part of this ayah is incredibly important. If you understand Arabic, there's some gems in there.  He didn't in this ayah. He said, Did they say, The inner part is missing. What does that mean? It's almost a conditional. If you want the utter forgiveness of Allah and mercy of Allah, guess what? Fattabi'uni. Follow the prophet, Simple. Again, let me go back. If the question comes in mind, okay, I got it. How do I follow? It is situational. Based on your situation, figure this out. What the recommendation of the prophet, that is a higher level. What was the lower level? The passing grade? The passing grade was to obey. And here is, here's the latter part of the ayah that I skipped, and I'm going to go back to ayah 32 of 332. Guess what happens? It's very simple. You're listening to them again. You don't get this C grade. What happens to you? You get a gift, right? That's what you're going to get. If you think it's a passing grade, you fail. And Allah says this, He says, It gives me goosebumps. This part, it makes me shake in my spot literally right now what it just said, this ayah. That means if you turn your back to the obeying of Allah and obeying the Messenger of Allah, that means you have two standards. This is what you want it to do and you know for a fact that what you want to do is not in accordance to the prophetic tradition and it is wrong of you to do but you decided to do it anyway. Ignoring this, the golden standard, you didn't care about it, you turn your back. How Allah means turn your back. Allah says, What is kafir? What is kafir? You and I use this all the time to someone who doesn't believe. Here's the hardest part. To shake it up. I'm telling you to shake it. It's not my words. These are the words of God. If you don't have the minimum grade to pass, you're not considered a Muslim. Allah does not love the disbelievers. Someone who doesn't believe. The absolute minimum for you and I is that, by a 32. Incredibly important message and an incredibly heavy message. That doesn't mean now you go back and you try to, okay, what can I do 100% of time? That's not how human is designed. It's not designed like that. You and I make mistakes and learn. This is talking about someone who's deliberately trying to ignore. That's not what it is.  You fall short, make a staghfar, ask for forgiveness, you go back. You try, try your best, you learn. That's how you apply this ayah. Allah says, Inna hu hu wa lafoo wa raheem. Inna alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa ala surella sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah says in his book, wa aradabillahi min ash-shaita'ala rajim, Inna Allah wa malayikatahu, certainly Allah, wa ra'ala da'at Allah and all the angels. We salduna ala nabihi and they send salutations and peace and blessings to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ya, ayyuhal ladina aamanu believers do the same. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa teslimah. Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala ala Muhammadin. Kama sallayta ala Ibrahim wa ala ala Ibrahim Inna kaha minum majeed. Allahumma barika ala Muhammadin wa ala ala Muhammadin. Kama barakta ala Ibrahim wa ala ala Ibrahim Inna kaha minum majeed. I'll just conclude, insha'Allah, with the ayah that is most famous that you all have heard this over and over again and I'm going to say it again.   Allah is commanding you. Not a casual suggestion. Commanding you to what? Three things. Justice. Elevate yourself. We just give you an example of how to make yourself better. How to be better than a C student. How to be better than an average worker, an average project manager, an average coder, an average businessman. How do you make yourself better? Allah is commanding you to make yourself better all the time. And you can say, Okay, I got it. Where do I start? Allah says, I got you back. Here's where you start. Wa'it ayat al-Qurba. Start with your family. If you find yourself that you're not at your best with your family and you're not being just with your family and your family. Wa'yanha anil fahshai wal-munkad wal-baqia. And three things, avoid. But at all costs, avoid. Fahshai, shamelessness, kills adil, kills justice. You know what we do? We look for a lot of loopholes. A lot of loopholes. And it's the second thing Allah says, avoid loopholes. You have two standards. Don't try to come up with reasons to justify your standard which you know it is not right. And the last one is value. Oppression. In all shapes and forms. Oppression. Do not oppress yourself first and foremost. Yourself. Do not oppress it. And anyone else around you. La'allahu akbarul. And I've said it. You have heard it. Wa'keenu s-salah.


Hello aspirants welcome to another UPSC update brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy. In this video we are going to see about the recently released UPSC notification regarding the recruitment in EPFO. See the recruitment is for the post of enforcement officer or accounts officer and for the post of assistant provident fund commissioner. If you are an UPSC aspirant then it is a wonderful opportunity for you. I will tell you why because 60 percentage of the syllabus of this exam overlaps with the UPSC syllabus. So to help you ace the examination Shankar IAS Academy has started a test batch and this test batch is going to start on 23rd March 2023. This test batch will contain a total number of 25 tests and the duration is 2 hours. It will happen between 2pm to 4pm. So grab this opportunity register for this test batch and ace the examination. Now we will see the other details regarding the EPFO exam that you should know. A detailed UPSC EPFO recruitment 2023 notification has been released recently. The recruitment is for the post of enforcement officer or otherwise called as accounts officer and for the post of assistant provident fund commissioner in employee provident fund organization. Now if you see the vacancy for these two posts 418 vacancies are announced for the post of enforcement officer or accounts officer and 159 vacancies are announced for the post of assistant provident fund commissioner. So totally 577 vacancies are there and if you look at the job type EO or AO post is permanent and it is a group B post non ministerial and the pay scale for this post is level 8 in the pay matrix as per 7th pay commission and the post of APFC it is also permanent it is group A post it is also non ministerial and the pay scale for this post is level 10 in the pay matrix as per 7th pay commission and yeah it is good to know about the job type and the vacancies and all but the most important thing that you should know about an examination is whether you are eligible to take that examination or not. So now coming to the eligibility criteria first of all let's see the age factor for the post of EO or AO the maximum age eligibility is 30 years and for the post of APFC the maximum age is 35 years. See the minimum age is not given in the notification and also know that there is also age relaxation for certain categories. Now moving on to the educational factor see the essential educational qualification for the post of EO or AO is bachelor's degree in any subject from recognized university or institute likewise the essential educational qualification for the post of APFC is degree of a recognized university or equivalent desirable qualification diploma in company law labor law or public administration. So aspirants if you think that you are coming under the eligibility criteria for these posts don't waste any time go and apply for these examinations and remember today is the last date. Now let us see about the recruitment process and pattern see the recruitment process for both of the posts involve a recruitment test and interview. See this recruitment test it will be of objective type questions with multiple choices of answer. So it is basically MCQs. I know that the recruitment test is separate for both the posts. The duration of the test is 2 hours and the test will contain a total number of 120 questions and each question will carry equal marks. You should know an important thing here negative marking is there for the wrong answers. Okay keep this in mind every wrong answer will carry a detection of one third of the marks assigned to that particular question. Keep this in mind while attempting the questions and the weightage for the recruitment test and interview is in the ratio of 75 is to 25. So 75 percentage weightage is given to the recruitment test and only 25 percentage weightage is given to the interview process. So recruitment test is very important it is just multiple choice questions if you ask this test you can directly go to the interview. If you ask the interview also your name will definitely be in the final list of selection. So don't miss this opportunity again and again I'm saying don't wait go and apply for this examination. Now I kind of created a hype about this recruitment test right now let us see the syllabus for this recruitment test and this is the syllabus for the post of EO and the APFC. If you compare the syllabus you can notice that there are certain areas which are overlapping. General English syllabus is same for both the examinations and both the examinations includes freedom movement, Indian freedom struggle. It includes development issues, Indian quality, economy, general accounting principles, industrial relation, labour law, general signs and knowledge of computer applications, mental ability and quantitative aptitude and social security in India. Some of the differences in the syllabus of APFC include Indian culture and heritage, population and globalization, auditing and insurance. So the percentage of difference in syllabus is only 20 percentage. The remaining are same for both the exams. So it's like a wonderful opportunity for aspirants. You don't have to sit and prepare the entire syllabus for both the examinations. If you finish the syllabus of one exam then you have to do some additional work for the other exam. That's all is needed. Now I'll tell you the resources also where you have to study the areas that are given in the syllabus okay. First of all for general English just read the editorial section of Hindi newspaper or Indian Express newspaper. But if you think that you are lacking a little bit behind in grammar and comprehension and all don't worry just refer to this book which is known as Objective General English by S.P. Bakshi. Secondly if you take Indian freedom struggle you can just refer to spectrums a brief history of modern India and that is all is enough. Thirdly coming to the current events and developmental issues you can just read newspaper or you can just follow current affairs materials that are available online or if you want to take notes of your own you can refer to P.I.B, Yojna and Kurukshetra. It'll be very helpful for you. And the next one is Indian polity. For Indian polity Lakshmikant book is more than enough. Everything that is needed for polity is given in Lakshmikant you just read that book alone. But if you don't have any prior background of the political system for your reference you can read political science NCRTs from class 9th to 12th. It will help you a lot. And the next one is Indian economy. You can either refer to NCRT books from class 9th to 11th or you can refer Indian economy by Ramesh Singh. And the next one is general accounting principles. See this is a new one right. If you are a new PSA aspirant you would not have studied about accounting and all. This is new for us. So my advice would be to read the NCRTs. See you can read the class 11th and 12th account NCRTs or otherwise you can refer to introduction to accountancy by Yash Chanda also. And the next one is industrial relations and labour laws. For this you can refer industrial relations and labour laws by Piya Li Ghosh. And the next one is general science. Just refer the NCRTs of class 6th to 10th that is enough. But at the same time be aware about the science and technologies current affairs also. So for that you can refer ISRO website, department of biotechnology website or department of science and technology website also. And the next one is knowledge of computer applications. Here you can refer to the book computer awareness by Arihant. Regarding computer applications and all they will ask only basic questions. So this is enough. And the next one is general mental ability and quantitative aptitude. For this you can refer quantitative aptitude by RS Agarwal book. Regarding quantitative aptitude and all you have to practice, practice, practice that will only help you. And the next one is social security in India. See for this area just refer to the social security schemes and programs in ministry of social justice and empowerment, ministry of women and child development, health and family welfare, minority affair, labour and employment and ministry of housing and urban affairs. And that is enough for this area. Now these are all the overlapping areas in the syllabus. Now I will tell you the difference part. The different area in the APFC exam is Indian culture and heritage. For this part you can refer to Indian art and culture by Nithin Singhanya. And the next one is population development and globalization right. For this you can refer Indian geography NCRTs of class 11th and 12th. See in these NCRTs human geography will be there. So in that information about population, mortality rate, birth rate, migration, all such informations will be there. Just refer these two books. For the static part of development and globalization you can refer to Indian economy by Ramesh Singh. And the next one is insurance. For this refer to IRDAI website and cover some basic concepts like water's insurance and some principles of insurance that is all is enough. And finally we have statistics. See for statistics refer to the NCRT of class 11th. And the book is statistics for economics. So these are all the books that you have to refer to. A final reminder for you aspirants, Shankar IAE's Academy has started a test batch which is going to start on 23rd March 2023. Register for this test batch because it is a wonderful opportunity for UPSC aspirants. The test batch will contain a total number of 25 tests and it will happen between 2pm to 4pm. Don't miss this opportunity and thank you for listening. I'll meet you in another video with another UPSC update. Until then it's me signing off.


Hi everyone, I'm Zana from Product School and in this video we're talking about product retrospectives, why they're important and how to create your own using the Product School template. Retrospectives are important for product teams to achieve continuous growth, be able to learn from their past failures and identify issues early on. In order to do that, PMs need to run focused and scoped retrospectives and leave team members with actionable items for the future. In this template, in the second slide, you will find resources that you can tap into to help you run your retrospective and you can always reach out to the Product School community here at the bottom if you have any questions. Now in this retrospective, in this retrospective template, you can find two types of templates. You'll have a sprint retrospective and then you have an incident retrospective. A sprint retro will only look at the last sprint and identify ways that it can become more efficient with actionable items for the future. However, an incident retrospective will look at a previous history of retrospectives that the retro lead will walk the team through and identify measurable items against that. In the first sprint retro, it will look something like this. In the first slide, you will identify what type of retro you are running and what the product or feature is. And then you'll give everyone 10 minutes per slide. So in the first slide, you will give team members around 7 to 8 minutes to write down their achievements and then 2 to 3 minutes for them to vote. Same thing here. You'll identify your challenges and then 2 to 3 minutes to vote. What ideas the team might have. You'll create this kind of safe space for everyone to write down their ideas and feel comfortable sharing how they want to take action. And then in the last slide, the PM will, based on the voting and all the data gathered during the meeting, you will be able to identify key takeaways, interaction items, jot down due dates and metrics you'd like to measure against. Same thing for an incident retrospective. The only difference is that in the first slide, the retro lead will walk the entire team through a history of retrospectives and be able to pinpoint accountability and identify next steps as well. Same thing here. You'll go through the same process with all these slides and identify next steps and takeaways. And that's pretty much it. In the last slide, you have an extra video that you can watch. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to the product school community, as I said before, and feel free to tap into the product school free resources page and YouTube channel for more information on this topic. Hope this was helpful and thank you for watching.


Alright, so we've seen how well Ryan Gosling can sing and dance and la la land So let's see how well he can fly to the moon. My name is Brandon Keith Avery and This is just my pain Hey, what's going on everyone? Thank you so much for tuning into my opinion slash review for first man I really do appreciate it now What first man is about is it is a looser biography or biopic of Neil Armstrong You don't know who Neil Armstrong is. He is the first man that landed on the moon in 1969 or could be 1968 Please forgive me if I don't get that date exactly right But it starts Ryan Gosling as I said in my intro. We've seen him singing dance He got a lot of attention for la la land and I really did like that movie He's also was in Blade Runner 2049 the nice guys the big short gangster squad You know, he has a very the eyes of Mars was really good, too He has a very long Femography as far as acting is concerned now this film is being directed by Damien Chazelle They've worked together before him and Ryan Gosling Damien Chazelle is the writer and director for a la la land And he was the writer and director for whiplash which came out a few years ago, which is a really great film I remember I think it was 2015 it may have been 2014 But that was one of the better movies that I saw all year But this film right here takes place from 1961 to 1969 and it kind of gives you the life of Neil Armstrong played through Ryan Gosling now this film is by Universal This is the first time Universal has ever used IMAX cameras for their sequences and I'm a big IMAX fan I had a chance to see this film early, but I missed it I was like now I'm gonna wait even later so I can try to catch just like Saturday morning or something Early showing of the day to see it in IMAX because those tickets are very expensive And not only do you get a wide shot, but you get a nice tall shot right here There's usually not any black or bars at the top and bottom when you take it home and watch it on Blu-ray or DVD And I'll have to say why am I max fan? This is the first time that I was not impressed with the IMAX ratio I just wasn't impressed at all. Usually it's just a big spectacle You're mesmerized as you're sitting in a theater, but as we're seeing Ryan Gosling floating around in space and things like that You know, it just really didn't do anything for me Even though I paid for a cheaper early bird price for my IMAX ticket This is the first time that I've actually seen an IMAX film that was shot with actual IMAX cameras to me That just was not worth it But what was worth it was the perspective that this film did give you as far as astronauts or space travel And the reason why I say this we really got a Pretty decent example of Martian which played What is his name goodness gracious? I can't but I can't but Matt Damon. Yeah Matt Damon He was the Martian and we also sound your bullock and gravity, you know, Martian was his own little thing It was a great film. I liked that gravity was mostly one take the whole time But this film right here with first man It really did get to show you the perspective of the actual astronauts as they're like getting buckled up in their seat and Trying to get you know fixated and all that good stuff You really got a nice first-person view of what the experience is and after watching this movie I can just say with confidence that I didn't never want to fly in space I mean unless you know technology advances in itself, which of course it did because this took place During the 60s, but this is definitely not for the claustrophobic I mean we're like, you know that just the way that Director use some of the angles and the shots in this film. I was like, oh my gosh Like I mean these guys really have a lot of balls just to like go up and you know and just do this and a lot of it Is very experimental and you know There's a lot of death and tragedy and trials and tribulations and things like that that go through in this film And we really do get to see how Neil Armstrong had to deal with that film Excuse me not deal with this film but deal with these moments And that's just what it's really about it's kind of like half about what is life and how he deals with trauma And then you know how that relates to him trying to you know Be the first person to land on the moon or whatever and you know, he does deal with a lot I like how the film kind of foreshadowed how you know What his motivation was for flying on the moon and like what it meant to him Because that type of thing can mean a lot to a lot of people when I was looking some things up You know actually there was a lot of controversy with this film when it debuted At a film festival a couple of months ago and sliced spoiler here They don't show him actually stomping the flag into the ground and there was a number of reasons why and that's just because they said if you really It was you know Neil Armstrong is not here anymore. He passed away in 2012. He was born in 1930 So rest in peace sir But a lot of people were saying if you really knew Armstrong, you know He really didn't care about borders and country Well, he cared about it But he really didn't consider himself American hero and they felt they're leaving that part out of the film would you know Which you know translate over borders and countries and things like that and you know, I can understand that to a degree I don't have that much stake in the game. I'm not over here. Just like yeah, we were the first to land on the moon I mean, you know, hey it is what it is, you know, that is something to be proud of but you know Understand where they're coming from, you know in this film But you know flying to the moon and you know That can mean a lot to a lot of people and a lot of things like what their motivation is going and Whether it's true or not I really like the way they tied the bow and wrapped up to where you know And they showed us and didn't tell us like why he was going to the moon And it was a very touching moment the acting in this film was pretty good, too We got a pretty decent performance from Ryan Gosling and also his wife Who was being played by Claire for Claire Claire for I don't know her is you spell her name FY I don't know why I can't say Claire foie. That's his name. Jenna Armstrong She did a very very great job, you know, and you know to me in this film She had a small role but when she did pop on screen She really did pop and I was like, okay, you know them saying this this lady right here It's not someone to be to be messing with we got bulls Aldrin in here also being played by Corey Stowe It was kind of interest in the way they showed him kind of like a jerk then really nobody wanted to you know be around And you know there was this film also kind of hit on like sacrifices and you know Just a balance of life and you know, you know, you got to take care of your family But at the same time you you know you working for the country and things like that You know, I'm also kind of a cool thing about this movie is that when they landed on the moon They there was a lot of real recordings from real life, you know in Houston in Florida You know that they use in this movie or whatever it was the real live Recording and I kind of thought that was cool And I'm not finna sit here and just pretend that when I heard when I heard in the film Oh man, that was the real voice. I didn't notice that I just looked it up You know before I hit record on this but at the same time I respected and think that's pretty cool But hands down the best part that I loved about this movie was the score that the composition was brilliant It was done by Justin Hurwitz. I mean like seriously It was a beautiful orchestra a beautiful symphony a very talented man, you know was doing his thing or whatever You know putting this performance together. I mean it was it was lovely and there was a two songs in particular It was one of them that got me to where they was Ryan Gosling was in space I don't want to tell you exactly when and he was losing control a lot of something and it was kind of like out of a Horoscene and Ryan Gosling is the villain, but space itself was the monster It was the slasher and this the way it was kind of spinning around and with the sound effects Can I like this eerie like I Know I'm pretty not really not giving you a good example You just kind of had to be there in the theater and with the music in the background I was kind of to I was you know, I was kind of taken back by that I was like man, they're really doing a good job of like, you know You know putting you in this situation and making you kind of feel exactly what it's feel like what Ryan God's feelings like oh crap I'm about to die in space and ain't nobody coming to get me You know I'm saying but two other scenes one. I just don't remember I just remember that the song came in two particular times two separate times But when he was actually landing on the moon like when the the rover or whatever was hovering over trying to land The music right there was like so damn good like seriously I was a Santa myself I cannot wait to this movie in so I can go to the store or go home and download this soundtrack because it was just that dope I couldn't tell what music instrument It was it was going back and forth between like a piano and like a harp or maybe it was both of them What a combination a whole bunch of other stuff because I'm not no music expert But there was hitting that whole big time I mean seriously like I got to the edge of my seat and I was this like I started closing my eyes and going like this And I was all not gotta open my eyes. I gotta see what's going on But like I was just that into the beat or whatever you know I'm seeing it was it was very it was just so majestic and Poetic this soundtrack or whatever like it really did stand out to me like seriously I if nothing else I do want this soundtrack or this song to get some type of recognition when it comes to a war season because it was Just that damn good like seriously guys what I'm done with this video and upload and all that stuff if I remember off the top My head I'm gonna find out the name of that song and I'm gonna be jammed with it in my car But I said all the good things in the film, but let's talk about the bed Honestly, it is a bit long the runtime comes in at around two hours and 21 minutes And that was just some times to where I was just a little bored It's and I hate to sound insensitive, but especially when it came to Neil Armstrong's You know what he was dealing with at home or whatever it was kind of long and drawn out and daunting and you know I really just didn't really find anything that interesting until there was actually like in the space shuttle I had the suits on or was on the moon or anything like that all the extra stuff just wasn't that interesting to me I still enjoyed the film, but I just can't say oh my gosh You just need to run out and see this thing if I had to rate first man out of a one out of ten I will give it a seven out of ten. Yes a seven out of ten, but guys that is just my opinion Have you seen your first man or do you want to see it? Have I turned you on? Have I turned you off? Do you agree with me or do you disagree with me? Let me know down in the comment section below Let's get this conversation going to keep it flowing if you liked this video go ahead and give me the thumbs up But if you don't that's fine, but you can still subscribe to my channel You can also look me up on social media Facebook Instagram and Twitter It's right at the bottom of your screen and I made it very easy by providing links to all that good stuff down in the description Boss below but guys seriously man really help me out I do want to reach 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year and I can only do that with your help So please subscribe like the video and share this thing to help your boy out but guys again I just want to thank you so much for tuning into my opinion slash review for a first man Starring Ryan Gosling director by Damian Chazelle and before you go don't forget that my name is Brandon Keith Avery and That's just my opinion peace


What he has going for him is that we can get 66% of the vote and lose. I think the only, the last point that I'd like to make on the waterfront is what I hope will not happen, and I think we're overcoming, is I hope that the opposition or that some of the opposition doesn't come from the same old opposition for the sake of opposition, I think that Peter is referring to. And philosophically, people are more than entitled to have different points of view. Some people, for example, think the whole thing should be impossible. We have no objection to that. What I hope will not happen is that the opposition will develop because it will be seen that if this is developed, this will be something, a success for the Sanders administration. Therefore, anything that is good for the Sanders administration must be automatically opposed. I think there's some of that. But I think what is very exciting is that I think we have a lot of tried positive support on this. And most people are willing to go forward and say, hey, forget the credit. We don't need the credit for failure. We don't need the credit. Democrats don't need the credit. Let's go forward with all three political factions moving forward. What about the criticism that it's asking the city's taxpayers to forego tax revenues and those to subsidize an enclave for the rich? Well, I mean, what am I telling you? I mean, you can say, what's the criticism? Why are you having 20-story buildings on the waterfront? We're not. All right. A, we reject the fact that it's an enclave for the rich, and I think I've given you the reasons why. Second of all, you're not foregoing what you otherwise would not have. Now, in fact, if you had a situation, you are building public amenities. I think most people in the city of Berlin can understand that if you're talking about building a bicycle path, a community boat house, and parks, it costs money. Now, how do you build that without public money? One way to do it would simply be to raise taxes. Right now. I mean, that's an conventional way. We raised a three-quarters of a million dollars to build a bike path last year. That's a totally reasonable way. We choose not to do that. We choose to raise the revenue by taking the tax money generated by the new developer. So we don't accept, basically, that argument. We think, given no federal money, given no state money to build these public amenities, this kind of open waterfront for the people without having to raise taxes. And five years now, the line beginning to bring in substantial sums of money for the people of the city is a real coup. And I think Peter Clavel deserves a lot of credit, and his office deserves a lot of credit for having negotiated this agreement. And again, I want to point this out. Nothing that anybody does in government is ever perfect. Some of you will recall that virtually every Board of Aldermen's meeting that we discussed this issue, I stopped and I would say to every member of the Board of Aldermen, if you have a better idea on how to build public amenities for the people of Burlington without raising taxes, please, let's hear it. Let's understand your idea. We have not heard any better idea. This is the best idea that has been brought forward. We are operating without federal money. We're going to do something that's beautiful. We're not going to be able to, we're not going to have to raise taxes. I think that that's quite a achievement. As a result, on the other hand, I heard on the radio somebody referring to us as having suffered a smashing defeat. And what I would just like to say that in general, if I could continue to get 54% of the vote for the rest of my political future, I would not be too unhappy. The fact of the matter is that I believe every other community except the city of Burlington, maybe with one exception, 54% of the vote guarantees you a victory in Burlington. As everybody knows, we've got to get two-thirds of the vote on a budget. We did not do that. We knew from the very beginning that would be a tough struggle. We disappointed that we didn't get it. In all honesty, I feel that having come forward with a program to develop a waterfront that people from all walks of life could enjoy without raising property taxes, and that's the point that you're in. It's easy for everybody to say, let's have a people-oriented waterfront, but what's not so easy to say is, how do you do that with the dealing with various expensive land, and you know that you don't want to raise property taxes because people simply can't afford more property taxes? And that was the point that we were in for a variety of reasons. We didn't get the two-thirds of the vote. We disappointed that we thanked the many people who supported us on this. We're very gratified by the amount of try-cons of the Democratic Progressive support that we had on it. And for all people who remain concerned about the waterfront, our view is that that piece of property in the city of Burlington still really supports the most important area yet to be developed, and we will do everything in our power to prevent it from being developed in a way that people will not be able to enjoy and support a piece of real amount of important, ugly amount. I intend to be speaking with Olden, perhaps the rarer of the people who've been following the project, and see where we go from here. You know, my own feeling is that we missed a pretty good opportunity. We'll just have to be vigilant and do the best that we can in the future. So once again, we thank all people who supported us. The second point that I want to make, and it deals with the waterfront, but it goes beyond the waterfront. Of course, in many respects, if we forget about the plain political opposition, which existed, and obviously any time you go forward with any idea of a certain amount of just plain old, petty political opposition, what is very interesting about the debate that took place is that people said, it ain't good enough. We want something better. And that is an absolutely legitimate concern. The problem that we have had on the waterfront, and will continue to happen on virtually every program that this city goes forward with, whether it's in education, whether it's in police protection, whether it's in a dozen different areas of concern for people, is that it is very hard to come up with types of alternatives that we want given the tremendous financial restrictions that the city of Berlin and virtually every other city in power in the state of Vermont is able to function on them. You know, people in the past have criticized me and my administration for talking about federal issues. Why do you waste your time on federal issues? And of course, the bottom line is that so long as the federal government continues to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on the military, much of it on unnecessary wasteful programs, so long as the federal government continues to give gigantic tax breaks to the rich and the corporations, and then suddenly understanding, gee whiz, we have a big deficit, and then it's a response to the deficit crisis cuts program that working people need, that the poor people need, that the elderly need, that the cities in town need. So long as that process goes on, let me tell you, not only will Berlin concern, not only will every other city in town or state of Vermont suffer, but virtually every community, except the most wealthy, throughout this country will continue to suffer. So the dilemma is not the problem is not, gee, we want something better. Unfortunately, too often we're going to have to say, this is the best that we can do without having to raise property taxes and drive poor people out of the homes that they own, or create situations where rents go off the wall. So the answer, the questions will not be framed in necessarily what's the best, but what can a city under serious financial constraints actually provide to the people. And that takes us again to the area that we will see increasingly this city involved in, and that is the role of state government relating to the cities in town of Vermont and to the city of Berlin. In not too many months from now, we expect the school board will be coming forward with a need to raise revenue from the tax pays. And our position is that the members of the Burlington delegation to the Vermont state legislature, the senators, Chittenden County senators, should tell the governor and the legislature that they will support no tax increases, they will support no increase in state aid education unless there is a new formula which deals fairly with the city of Burlington. It is totally the uncomprehension that this city continues to expend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars which go to state aid education and we get virtually nothing back from Montpelio. That has got to be changed and I hope that all of the Democrats and Republicans who represent our community both in the county and in the city of Burlington will stand firm on that issue. But once again, unless there is not substantial help in a whole variety of ways from state government. For example, we go back to the old project. The project could have been a more attractive project in retrospect. If the state had said, well, we're willing to put a state park on the waterfront of Burlington. We are willing to have a statewide museum in the Green Mountain Power Building so that the local property tax payers would not have to subsidize that. Now in truth, this is not a criticism of this legislature or this governor. That has been done to think programs like that have not been developed in the past. But I think whether it's the landfill, whether it's the waterfront, whether it's education, whether it's a dozen of the programs, with the fact that the federal government is turning its back on cities and towns, the state of Vermont is going to have to take a much more active approach to dealing with the communities. Can you tell us, Mayor, if there's anything specifically you have in mind for the waterfront's future? I know last night you mentioned this about going back to the drawing board and all this sort of thing. You mentioned today talking with Alden. Alden says that they're not going to be the major developer down there anymore. Alden may be right. I think I do have some ideas and some of us do, but I think it would be pretty much right. I mean, again, I just want to emphasize that in the opposition, it's interesting to hear the opposition, to hear some people who are very, very upset that they're not going to generate immediate tax revenue for the schools and for the city. If you follow that larger to its real conclusion, what some of those people are saying is, hey, we don't really care what's down there. Let's get some construction down there. Let's get some building down there so we can generate some immediate tax revenue. I personally never support that proposal. On the other hand, there are people who, at the same time, are talking about what's revenue coming from down there, are saying let's have it all as a public park. That also does not make a lot of sense to me. The dilemma, again, is how you have mixed development, how you can do without raising the regressive property tax, and how you can have the kind of activities down there that people from all walks of life can enjoy. And anyone who thinks that developing that program is so simple is very, very mistaken. We hear from critics who say, why don't you have moderate-income housing on the waterfront? There's nobody who would like to have moderate-income housing on that waterfront more than I. And this administration is working day and night to provide moderate-income housing in the city and we're having some success. We're talking about over 200 units of moderate-income housing being built. But historically, everybody who knows anything about this understands moderate-income housing and low-income housing, senior citizen housing, has been built with federal substance. And if the federal government turns its back on communities, it is very, very difficult to do. Would it be fair to say that your ideas do not involve any kind of property tax increase or any bonding at all? Let me not comment specifically on that. I think what we thought, what we went into, as people said to us, we don't like tax incremental financing. We are problems with it. And they're right. Tax incremental financing is not the world's greatest approach. No one denies that. In our feeling, what we said then and what we repeat now, if we had gone forward to the people and said we need three, four million dollars for a general bond issue in order to buy property on the waterfront to convert it to public use, do you think we would have won that? I don't think not only would we not have gotten the 54% that we got yesterday. I doubt if you would have gotten 25% or 30%. It does not forget that the people of Burlington suffered rather terribly as a result of state mandated reappraising. They were hit very, very hard. And I do not believe that there's any way in God's heart that the people of Burlington would have voted 66% for a geo bond issue to buy property on the waterfront and have their property taxes raised substantially. I just don't believe that. That's why we came up with the tax incremental financing. Understanding the true limitations of that program, the negative, but feeling that that was better than going through with a property tax increase. So Bob, you'll forgive me right now. I think I'll have something more to say probably in a week or so. But at this point, I have nothing definitive to say as to how we'll go forward. Other than this, my view remains that I will not allow development. I will do everything that I personally can do not to allow development down there which is going to take away that access that the people of the city and their children and grandchildren are entitled to have. Stuart, that's a good question. Maybe tomorrow, maybe 10 years. I honestly don't know the answer. I'll be snooping around the next week, talking to people, seeing what we can learn. I think what we said before the election, what we say after the election, is that we see two possibilities develop. One is no development. And between you and me, I would rather have no development down there than unacceptable development. And that may be the future scenario, no development. Okay, so that's the one. The second scenario that frightens me to tell you the truth is the possibility of all of us selling off piece by piece of its 12 acres and you have some condos over here, you have some retail development over here, and you have this over there and that over there, and you have nothing for the people. That's the negative, that's the frightening future that we do everything that we can to control. But once again, the bottom line so far as I see is that public access, public parts require public money. You don't get it from the feds, you don't get it from the state, you're going to have to get it global. And if people can't afford to take increased property taxes for that, you really have some difficult problems. Will you be talking with Alden or any other developers that encourage Alden to restart up their plan at all? Let me first talk to Alden. I read the papers today and I haven't talked to Mr. Flynn since that. Just get an assessment as to where they are and what options they see for the future. Do you see any possibility of them coming back? If the state of Vermont does not substantially increase its role in providing services to public documents, it should do to avoid a... as recently as two hours ago, the governor once again made it very clear to the state that there should be no position to pick up that path even if it's the face of Graham Barton and the tax bill and so forth. What's going to happen? I mean, in real terms, that real people can understand. Well, I think you're going to see a very bitter conflict between state government, municipalities, working people, people concerned about education all over the state. That's what you're going to see. It is not good enough. We understand, we really do, that the governor and the legislature also have their share of problems. We do understand that. But we think they have a variety of options by which they can progressively go out and raise revenue. We don't. And if all that they can say to us is, go out and raise the property tax support if you want to pay for your police or fire services or you want to pay to educate your kids, that is not an intelligent, public spirited response that a governor or the legislature should have. I once again point out that if the state of Vermont had the guts to decouple the guts to bring back the tax rate that it was before raven lowing taxes for rich people and corporations within the state of Vermont, we're talking about raising tens and tens and tens of millions of dollars in a way that which would allow working people and elderly and poor people not to have to pay more taxes. That's not an economic question. It's a political question. It's a question of guts. Do they have the guts to do that? Or are they going to ask working people to be paying more and more property taxes what suffered the loss of services? We understand what the government's position is. We understand what the position is of many members of the legislature. We now enforce along with, I think, many other municipal officials who oppose that. But not asking you what kind of fight the politicians were going to be able to ask me what is the average person who want to have to deal with that? Well, it's too early for us to comment on that right now. I think what you're looking at is one of two things. Well, maybe one of three things. You're looking at, obviously, if you don't raise additional revenues, you're losing a million dollars of revenue share. You're looking at a cut in services. That's one thing. Number two, you're looking at the possibility of local property taxes to replace the loss of revenue share. And number three, what I think is the most viable alternative that we have city-wide is the creation of an alternative for the property tax. And as you know, I put together a committee of business people who are working with city-efficient members of the Water Board. We held our first meeting. And I think what people in the business community understand that the degree that there is a loss of services within Burlington, they will suffer as a result. And I think the first meeting was a positive meeting. I hope that within a couple of weeks we'll have some concrete resolutions coming out of that committee for all terms of the conversation. Mr. Sanders, getting back to the Water Board, this, when you break it down by rewards, it won a two-to-one majority award six considered a more optimal reward and went down to the strongest of its defeats in World War II and World War III. If you're considering a win for government, how do you see that support and lack of support affecting your race? And I have another question after that. Mark, you'll excuse me. I don't want to get into once again the race for government. We're just dealing, you know, I've dealt with the waterfront issue, which to me is the extraordinary importance of the road. But let me deal with your question as best as I can. I would answer it by saying if you want to know a blatant political answer, as to how progressives are doing in the city of Berlin, I would say that after four and a half years of rather bitter struggles and fights and elections, that probably today, in my honest opinion, we are stronger than we have ever been before. I spent a lot of time in the Water Free and I was at the polling place yesterday for a number of hours at work and talked to many people and talked to many people. Working-class people said, Bernie, I am voting against this bond issue. And they told me why. They're concerned about increased property taxes. They're concerned about revenue not coming into the schools. They're concerned about the problems of objectification. Their concerns are legitimate concerns by not having many doors in the wards doing free. My feeling is that people there understand this administration is trying at the very difficult circumstances as hard as it can to protect the interests of working people and low income people. And the proposal that we came up with was a good proposal. People for reasonable reasons said, no, I can't support you on that proposal. Needless to say, we would have loved to have gotten 66% of the votes in every ward in the city. We didn't. I think that the people understand we're trying our best on this issue for a variety of reasons, some of which I guess they indicated they chose not to support us. Politically in the city, I'm feeling quite different.


Good evening and welcome to Town Meeting Television's continuing coverage of Town Meeting 2023. That's March 7th, is voting day, although many of you have probably received your ballots in the mail already. And if you haven't yet made your decision on the South Burlington School Board Race, we have two of the candidates here who I think will inform your vote. We have Brian Campion and we have Trivia Childs.   Yes, I am. Would this be your second term? Yes. Okay, wonderful. And I'm also gonna remind folks that you can give us a call at 802-862-396 if you have any questions for the candidates, we'd love to hear them. So we're gonna start with opening statements. Brian Campion, why don't you tell us? Companion, just the way it sounds. Companion, fabulous. Good French name. Yeah, it's C-O-M-P-A-N, are you in? See, we all get a little nervous. Not a problem. I've been called much worse. Brian, Companion, give us your opening statement. Why are you running and what qualifies you to be on the school board? Sure, good evening. Over 40 years ago, my wife Vivian and I moved to South Burlington. At the time we had no children, but we knew we wanted to be part of a growing community with good schools. Looking back 43 years, things really haven't changed. Both of our daughters graduated from South Burlington High School and currently we have three grandchildren at Orchard School. As a family, we feel very indebted to the community and the schools for the role they played in the development of our daughters and the continuing role they played with our grandchildren. My work career was primarily at PC Construction. For 30 years I was the risk manager. I learned a great deal there. Teamwork, I learned that nobody builds a construction project by their own on their own. Problem solving and of course construction. But I think the key takeaway from PC was that an organization is defined by the quality of its people and the success of that organization will be based on those people. In 2020 I served on a budget review committee. After two budget defeats, I found the work interesting, challenging and I began thinking about running for school board. So three years later, here I am. Sometimes it takes me a while to get doing things. But recently I've gone to, visited three schools. I have gone to school board meetings and talked to past members. So I think I have a view of the job and the issues. I believe my life experience, my business skills would be beneficial to the school board as we address various educational issues in the district. Thank you so much, Brian. Trivia, tell us a little bit about why you're running for reelection and what qualifies you. My name is Dr. Chayos and I am currently the chairperson of the board. And as like other political places, the first term you're just trying to get in the groove of it. And then the second term is when you really do something. And I find out that more parents are reaching out, contacting me about minority kids, about the things that they're doing. And I know my job has just begun. And I'm qualified because I'm a disabled vet. I'm a mom of four and a nana of four. And I own a youth center at the mall. So I'm always there or in school. I'm an activity plan director out there. I run the club. So I try to get out there, I try to listen to the students and try to give them an idea that someone is here. Thank you. Thank you so much. Can you tell us your position on the school budget for this year, for FY24? I approve it, yes. Do you want to say a little bit more about it and why you think the voters should support it? Because the budget focuses on supporting students, social, emotional, and academic safely and facilities in Burlington. We are going out to the buns too for ZEMs to address overcrowding at Orchard and Rick Marquardt Elementary School and the facilities needs in the school. 91% of the ZEMs will be paid back by impact fees. Impact fees are charged by the city for sewer, fire, et cetera. This will be an education fee. And the main thing, we can't do anything with the kids if we don't have money. We're struggling, we had to take care of, I mean, take away a few classes and teachers. But it should never be a reason why someone would vote no unless it's unethical. And I understand that there's a lot of crowding in the South Brunkin School District. Yes. And so it sounds like this bond is meant to address that issue. For the ZEMs, yes. And what are the ZEMs? They're similar to, not trailers, I don't want to say that. Modulars, yes, but they look much better. Brian, tell us your position on the school budget, please. Certainly. These are difficult times with high inflation and economic uncertainty. I think the key to budgeting is finding that balance and Dr. Childs referred to it of what is necessary to deliver a quality education and what the community will support. I do support the budget. It has about a $4.2 million spending increase this year, which is about 7%, but the school tax rate is only going up about 4%. I think all districts in Vermont are very fortunate right now that the state yield, which is the contribution the state makes to districts, went up 16%. Well, what does 16% mean? To South Burlington, it means we're getting close to $4.9 million of new money. So you might say that yield increase is kind of taxpayer relief in these tough times, which I think is good. Another part of the budget I really like is the fact that we have four math interventionists that we're keeping on. They were previously funded by ESSER COVID relief funds, and that money, of course, is running out. But I was really pleased to see that the local budget is picking up three of those positions, because back in that budget period of 221, we had two defeats. One of the largest reductions in our budget was math and literacy support. I didn't agree, but we had to pass a budget. So I think when you look at our scores and that kind of reduction in the pandemic, you can understand why some of our students are struggling in that area and our proficiency is down. So I support the budget as far as staff cuts. I trust the administration and the board we have to make those decisions. They're not easy. But when you think about our budget being 78% salaries and benefits, when we have to get to numbers and we have to get to a level of the communal support, it has to sometimes be in that area. So Dr. Trials spoke to the bond issue, that what's your position on that? $14.5 million? Yes, I've said this before. I would have probably campaigned for two bonds, one for maintenance and one for the classroom project. I'm conservative in nature. And this is the biggest bond the community's had. I believe it's going to pass. But as being a conservative person, I'd rather get something than nothing. So we're all in. But clearly we do have overcrowding. I think we'll get to that on facilities. Exactly. So let's talk about language access. We'll start with you, Brian. What important initiatives are underway in the school district and what more needs to be done in your view to meet the needs of students and families who are proficient in languages other than English? Sure, great question. And I will tell you, I did not know much about this, but I did some looking at it. I was told by one of the principals I toured with that over 80 languages are spoken at homes in our district. And I thought, wow, I haven't heard this issue surface at a school board meeting or in our community. And I have a neighbor who does not speak English in their house. But what I found out is we have a very strong English language program. They're working on training for translating and interpretive services. They have English learning teachers. They're having family engagement nights to help other members of the family at the community library. They're doing assessments that are shared with educators as well as the administration so we can target areas that are in need. And they're in the final stages. It sounds like of developing a plan for English learning across the entire district. So it sounds like we address the issue. We're continuing to address the issue. And because it hasn't been raised as a real crisis or anything, I'd have to say job well done. Thank you. Dr. Childs, what's your view of the efforts in the district to provide access for different language backgrounds? Support and diversity to our community is very important. At SBSD, we have made huge advances in the last two years to support those who are proficient in other languages. Superintendent Nicholas began the English language learner, ELL, nights where there was literature, culture and food and celebrated the difference between people. And so we do have a translation and we try to provide what I've learned if you have to meet the student where they are and if they're in the room and no one speaks their language, they're gonna stop learning. So now that the district's become more diverse, it's very important that we take care of the kids that are coming in. We have implemented a software program that allows us to use data to understand student and family needs as well as provide information on home language spoken. We also hired the English language coordinator and expanded our ELL teaching staff. We know that those who speak languages other than English enrich learning for all of our students. This is one of the main reasons that I helped to create a district's equality policy last year as a member of the board. Thank you. Why don't we go to the question of capital improvements in bonding? You have spoken a little bit about that, Dr. Charles. What role does school infrastructure play in a healthy community? And in addition to addressing the overcrowding, what's next for the city of South Burlington School District? We're partnering with our community. To develop facilities is one of the greatest needs. We need to address over enrollment now in our elementary schools with ZIMS. This recommendation was brought to us by a community committee called the Enrollment Committee. Elementary school students will move through our system. We need to work with the community to determine if our community wants to move fifth graders to the middle school, then start the infrastructure committee to determine middle and high school facilities. I am a supporter of community engagement and I will work with city manager, superintendent, city council chair to ensure that development within SB is supported in the partnership in our district. Thank you. Brian, companion, tell us about your view of these infrastructure improvements and capital improvements and what's needed. You know, certainly people's work environment has an effect on how they look at going to work, how they approach their job. And in a school's case, how students learn it can impact their performance. I visited three schools and I think our staff administration and faculty in those schools are doing a great job managing a difficult situation and it's time to fix it. We do have overcrowding. Clearly we're using every square foot in those schools. And we have maintenance issues when you have small little children's swimming pools catching rainwater in hallways. So the immediate needs, Dr. Childs talked about them. We need classroom space at Rick Markott and at Central. We need maintenance on roofs and other issues that are included in the bond issue. If that passes, it buys us time to really have a good structured plan. The fifth grade decision is probably the biggest decision facing our buildings because that will determine where we're gonna have to do the most work. But assuming that they go to the middle school, then the middle school has to be completely looked at. One area I would look at in the middle school is our gym. It's really not functional now and if we bring 150 students there, it's only gonna be worse. So I would look at repurposing something like that. Can we turn it into classrooms and can we build a facility along with the other things we need? Our high school is vintage 1960s. So you know what those kind of buildings and the issues that need to be addressed there. And we're gonna have to look at our future for the high school to accomplish our education goals. Growth in South Burlington is not gonna slow down. You read where there's gonna be another 1,000 homes in the next 10 years. That would be a 20% increase. According to the tax department, we have 5,200 households in South Burlington. So if you add 20%, what's that gonna be for the impact on our schools? So I think the key is a long range plan. The development of it and communicating it in detail to the community. Letting them know the level of support you're going to need. What is it going to cost? I think we're fortunate in South Burlington. We've got a good history of supporting our schools. And if we play the role of a good steward of public funds, maintain and build confidence, earn that confidence, I think we will get the funding we need to address our facility issues. And I just like to give you both the opportunity to comment on how this school's crowding issue became so acute. Would you like to go first or would you like me to? I can go first. Sure. Because we didn't expect it. We weren't prepared for anything, for people to move in. And the not the scary part, but the sad part is now that we don't know what to do actually. We're trying to figure out A-B-S-C was best for us, but we have immediate need. And that's why we have the ZIMS. But people will continue moving to South Burlington because of the radiance of our school. Because that's why I moved here. Is there any connection between the DRB that approves all these buildings? And then is there a feedback to the school that these buildings are gonna be built? They're gonna be more children. There more pressure on the school. All I know when I was in the school the other day, a guy who had graduated from there said nothing has changed in 50 years. So it's always been crowded? No, the building. Got it. Yes, but I think we're just building. Brian? You look at South Burlington and the growth and I think we have been surprised by some of the sources of students. For instance, the demographer of the district uses who projects enrollment numbers. Looks like they missed it when we built these one and two bedroom apartments over in the market street area, our downtown that's developing and it's developing a lot of housing. I mean the university is gonna put 300 units there. But that housing at the other end of town has really overrun Rick Markott and Orchard. You know, the Chamberlain district can't grow. It's just the size of it can't grow so there's no growth there. So we are in a bad situation. The bond issue would give us a stop gap and carry us, give us the classroom space we need to execute and do what is right for the children. But it's a tough thing and the pandemic I think led to it. Vermont became a very good destination to come and work when people could work away from home. And we've seen a lot of that, a lot of families and we came here 40 years ago for schools and people are saying the same thing now. We're very desirable community. Well, Brian, you mentioned in your previous comments you talked about teacher wellbeing and retention. So what is your understanding of the current level of morale among the South Burlington teachers and the South Burlington's district doing enough to retain good teaching and support staff? Let me start with retention. I don't think retention is an issue for teachers in South Burlington. I think we're viewed as a very desirable place to work. You get to engage with good students from good families. I think we have a good culture. We have a very good pay scale and we have a community that is supported. So I don't think retention is an issue with teachers. Hiring staff is an issue for everybody in that business and the education. I think it's a new thing for them.  We're in the engineering schools when they're freshmen and sophomores. I don't think education had to do that and I think recruiting is a struggle. To the mental health side of it, I'll tell a story that kind of puts it in perspective. My daughter lives next door to a person who was a high school science teacher in another district. This summer, he told me, he said, I need this summer after the last two years to get myself in the right frame of mind. For the first time in 14 years I've taught, I'm not sure I wanna go back. So to me, that says there's a crisis. It's across the country, but it's in the schools. I don't really know what the schools have done. I would think we might wanna survey and ask the teachers how they feel. What could we be doing for them? I know we have referral programs for students who have issues. On the other hand, do we have a program for teachers so they can reach out? It's a very difficult issue. I think well-being and job satisfaction will improve when people feel like they're getting their job accomplished and right now with the issue with students and the fact that we can't meet some staffing issues. Classroom teachers are spending a lot more time on issues other than learning. And I think that's an issue that bothers them. They wanna see their kids advance. Thank you. Dr. Charles, your view of teacher morale and retention? Morale. I think during COVID when these teachers were forced to go back because the parents wanted the kids to go in, a lot of them retired because they didn't wanna be sick and bringing sickness home to their kids. But given all the challenges educators are facing today, what a significant and only made by, I mean, only made greater by the pandemic. We have an incredible and committed staff. I support changes to increase morale that matters such as programming to support, social and emotional learning. And as little is known, like bringing treats to the bus drivers and saying thank you all the time. Now we did that a couple, me and a couple students. We took them treat six 30 in the morning, took them hot chocolate, gift bags and food just to help them to say we care. But I didn't go as his board director. I went as a community member. So I think that we're doing a great job compared to everything else. We are incredibly fortunate in our staff retention rates. The VT superintendent's association complete a staff survey in the fall and we were one of the best staff districts in the state. Excellent pay and benefits as well as culture of care and a tradition of excellence with a supportive community are some of the reasons why. Not to mention our exceptional sports team. Our HR department, superintendent and principals are also working to recruit and maintain staff. We are implementing new programs and training to assist support staff in addressing many of the social emotional learning challenges. We are seeing students in pandemics. Like you said, we can't send them when the teachers are worked so busy working on other things instead of learning. We are grateful to have the best teaching and staff in the state. Thank you so much. I'm just gonna remind our viewers if you have any questions for our candidates for the South Burlington School Board to your seat.<PHONE_NUMBER>. Dr. Charles, why don't we start with you on this next question on racial justice. What is your current understanding of the work around this issue in our school district and how would you support leadership efforts and initiatives to meet the challenges and create an equitable and thriving environment for all students? First of all, this is an issue close to heart. Things are happening. And I've learned that the more we make ourselves available and we're gonna try to learn. So what's the current understanding of the work around the issue and how long would support leadership efforts and initiatives to meet the challenges of creating an equitable environment for students? I'm sorry. The understanding is that the community, we need to work as a team because nobody understands what racial justice is. We're doing a lot of things restored to practices. And as we continue to be diverse, increasing diverse, it's a lot of things that are going on that now we have to take care of. So my thing is, I think we're on the right path because we hired someone and then we have a lot of people like Mr. Jabar, who deals with this on occasion. And I think that racial injustice, it's gonna take a long time, but we're working forward to doing it, making sure everybody is okay. Because my family went through it also. And are you satisfied with the efforts that the district is now making or what do you think also has to happen? We need more restorative justice. We need it to, if a student has an issue tomorrow, we need to talk about it tomorrow, not wait on three months to talk about it because then it's too late. But yeah, restorative justice is great. And making sure the minority kids understand, you know, we love them. We're gonna protect them. Because one point was when we had SROs and how the kids that looked like me felt they were afraid. And it comes back to yesterday. I mean, the other day when I was in a room with the chief of police and it made me feel different. But until people realize that, we can't go anywhere together. Realize that it's an issue. It's a problem. Because a lot of people I know want to help. But they have to understand, they have to listen and accept it first. Thank you, Dr. Charles. Brian, companion, your view of the work happening on racial justice in the schools and how you would support leadership to create an equitable environment for all students? I think the school is acting appropriately. Dr. Childs has been a catalyst for that and I praise her for that. An equity policy was developed, but we all know that sometimes policies are developed and they're just sit on a shelf. I like the fact that we're putting ours to work. We've hired an executive director who's been on staff for, I think, about eight months. My take, whenever you hire somebody, and it doesn't matter in this position, but where I work, when you hire somebody, you'll let them do their job. We hired a qualified person, the best candidate that the board could find, great. Let them work with the administration in our schools to develop the means and methods to get the results that we want. And that's, I think, how a school board has to look at it. We're not running the schools on a day-to-day basis. It's our educational experts. And we've hired an expert in this field. As far as a board member, I need to learn more about this. I would do so by listening to the reports that the director develops, looking at issues that might come before the board, listening, asking questions, supporting, and monitoring the program to see that we're attaining our data points and our goals because we do want to move forward. It's an important initiative. I agree on restorative justice. I believe, and I have for a long time, that punishment that is based, or discipline based on punishment only, is a negative to everybody. I could give you numerous examples how it's failed us in our business. So restorative justice where we're trying to repair the harm that's been done. And I had no clue we were waiting three months. That's very sad. Accountability for that person that is responsible for this harm, taking accountability and working to repair. To me, that's creating a positive from what was a negative because discipline for discipline's sake doesn't work. Thank you. So we're moving into our closing comments. I think we have a few more minutes. So I'm gonna just go right to the biggest challenges you see facing the school district. And then we'll go to short closing comments. So Brian, why don't you address this question? What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the district? And how would you use your seat on the board to make those changes? Sure. Issue number one is staffing. Education is a labor intensive business and it is a business. It's the business of educating South Berlin students. And when we can't fill key positions, that means we're not delivering the service that we want to. So education staffing is a real balancing act. And we lost 23 positions this year. Okay, that decision was made by the management of the school, I agree with it. But we always have to look at staffing because it's 78% of our budget, of our $62 million we're gonna spend. 49 is wages and benefits. So staffing is key. We need to attract good people. We need to make South Burlington the place people wanna work. So I think we have to look at ourselves and say what do we need to do to improve culture, our reputation, and be the place to work. After that, I'm looking at social and emotional issues. And I think we ask schools very often to address those. And they do a very good job in some areas. School lunch programs, breakfast programs, combat hunger. We know that students can't learn if they're hungry. After school programs, combat, aid the parents that work. Infrastructure is one that we have to. We've talked about equity. We've talked about mental health. I think those are the things. If I had to look at a vision for South Burlington, I'd say we wanna make sure that every student has the means to maximize their potential. And every parent says, my child was taken care of well. We need to get the growth in the community under control and make progress on the social and emotional issues. Thank you, Brian, companion. Dr. Childs, the biggest challenges and how you'll advance them if you're reelected. Facilities, social, emotional, and academic learning and school safety. I directed Superintendent Nichols to move forward with both ZEMs and impact fees. I believe that the community process that brought us to the ZEMs recommendation. As for learning, I support SEL positions and working on Act I to improve DEI efforts in the district. Regarding facilities, I am supportive of a community conversation on fifth grade transition and middle school. And I'm always in the school. And it's embarrassing sometimes when kids, because the word is South Burlington is the best city in Vermont.  And when my son first started, we walked there, there was no AC, so we had to bring water. But how many people know that? How many people came in there and sat down and walked with the students? Nobody has. Because I'm sure if they did, they would make a change. They would want this for all kids. Because I know South Beach supports their people, our kids. The community also, the community was able to hear from principals regarding school safety at each school. My partnership with the superintendent allows us to work together on both teams to get initiatives accomplished as you can see by deliverable of the impact fees for ZEM, school safety and staffing, to name a few. My vision is that South Burlington minority kids are comfortable. They feel like they're a part of the environment because as I travel in Texas, I feel at home. Nobody was looking at me, nothing was going on. But then when you get here, but I think a lot of times our kids are struggling because that's what someone said, not the truth. And so that's why I always try to make sure we get in contact with the city. We're trying to do things together.  Very good. I want to thank you both. We're out of time. I think your challenge question addressed your closing comments. I just want to remind people to vote on March 7th. If not before, with your ballots, they've been sent to your home. We've been speaking with the candidates for the two-year seat for the city of South Burlington School Board, Brian Companion and Dr. Travia Childs. And I appreciate you both being with us tonight. Thank you. And thank you so much for watching. Stay tuned to Town Meeting Television's continuing coverage of Town Meeting 2023.