Six years ago next week, America’s schools closed. They told us it would be 15 days.
As we approach the sixth anniversary of the COVID school closures — the largest disruption to American education in history — I’m beginning a series of profiles of the people who refused to stay quiet. Parents, doctors, teachers, and advocates who spoke up when it cost something to do so. Who were mocked, threatened, and dismissed. And who were right.
You know their stories, because many of them are in the film.
🎬 Watch 15 DAYS: The Real Story of America’s Pandemic School Closures — now available on Digital 4K, DVD, and Blu-ray →
Fifty million children. A generation changed forever. 15 DAYS is the documentary that tells the truth about what happened — and why. If you haven’t seen it yet, now is the time. And if you have, share it with someone who still believes “we did the best we could with the information we had.” We didn’t.
We’re starting this series with one of the first people I interviewed for the film: Paul Martino — venture capitalist, Bucks County dad, and the man who turned parental rage into a political playbook that parents across America copied. Follow him on X and Facebook.
The VC Who Went to War With His School Board — and Won
When 80% of parents wanted in-person learning and got virtual school instead, venture capitalist Paul Martino discovered his job description had changed: he was now doing the superintendent’s job for him.
In August 2020, Paul Martino wasn’t looking for a fight. He was looking for answers.
The Central Bucks School District — Pennsylvania’s largest public school district — had just announced a switch to virtual learning, despite a survey showing over 80% of district parents preferred in-person education. Martino, whose kids were 9 and 11, felt something snap.
“It happened out of pure anger.”
That anger became action. Martino, a venture capitalist by trade, launched a grassroots movement that would ultimately lead to the superintendent’s resignation and school board member replacements. More importantly, it sparked a template that parents across the country would follow to reclaim their voice in their children’s education.
“We ended up putting the school board on notice that we were paying attention,” Martino recalls. Soon, his phone was ringing with calls from around the country asking the same question: How did you do that?
When the Experts Won’t Show Up, Show Up Yourself
Even as COVID raged on, Martino organized a series of town halls, meticulously following social distancing protocols so no one could accuse them of ignoring state regulations. When the school board refused to attend, he invited local health director Dr. David Damsker — “one of the few public health officials anywhere who was advocating for shorter distances, less aggressive quarantines. Everything he advocated was 100% right.”
The price of speaking truth? Dr. Damsker was ridiculed, doxxed, his family threatened.
“That’s when we realized we weren’t going to make a whole lot of friends,” Martino says. But if administrators and teachers weren’t doing their jobs properly, he would have to step up.
“If you’re going to make me do your job for you, then I guess I’m at this party, too.”
Following the Money
As a businessman, Martino understood that when relief funds flow through a system with minimal oversight, you need to pay attention. The allocation of COVID relief funds was, in his view, run with “almost no oversight, almost no one paying attention to who was getting the money or what it was getting used for.”
The unions, Martino discovered, weren’t even representing their own members’ interests. “If you randomly asked ten teachers in any district about going back to school, eight out of ten disagreed” with union positions.
“It’s truly a money grab, a power play. That’s what it is.”
Fighting for the Future, Not Just the Present
Martino’s mission became about more than reopening schools. It was about redefining the role of parents in shaping the educational landscape. He met with nearly every sitting school board member, learning the system inside and out, working to ensure that decision-makers — from Capitol Hill down to the local school board — would fight for children, not special interests.
“I actually grew up 20 minutes from here in North Penn, one of the other large districts in Pennsylvania. I went to public school 20 minutes from here. We didn’t go through any of this. And I sure wish my kids didn’t have to have gone through this either.”
The Intimidation Playbook
Martino knows most people aren’t up for the battle he fought.
“Most people aren’t up for that battle. And I think the other team knows that — knows that intimidation and fear will get you off your game.”
But he also knows something else: when parents organize, when they refuse to be silenced, when they show up with receipts instead of just rage — they win.
The school board learned what parents across America would soon discover: no one is coming to save our kids but us.
All of the above is drawn from my interview with Paul Martino during production of 15 DAYS: The Real Story of America’s Pandemic School Closures.
15 DAYS is now available on Digital 4K, DVD, and Blu-ray. Get the film here →