For years I've covered this country, from its elections to its divisions to its resilience.

And I can tell you, the story of America isn't just told from Washington.

It's told in places like Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

I'm Judy Woodruff, and I'm honored to bring you a new documentary series that explores friendship, family, and what happens when the polarization we are all confronted with gets local and starts affecting children.

From award-winning filmmakers Barry Levinson and Robert May, "Bucks County, U.S.A."

is both a wake-up call and a light inside the tunnel.

Please join me in experiencing this timely story.

(band playing "What a Wonderful World") CHOIR: ♪ I see trees of green, red roses, too ♪ MARLENE PRAY: I've been called a pedophile.

♪ I see them bloom VONNA DEARMOND: I've been called a Nazi.

♪ And I think to myself ADRIENNE KING: I've been called anti-American.

♪ What a wonderful world PAUL MARTINO: I have been called a COVID denier.

PRAY: I've been called a dyke and a groomer.

Anti-Semitic, racist.

Bigot, fascist.

Condescending.

A transphobe.

I've been called everything except a neighbor.

♪ And I think to myself ♪ What a wonderful world AMNA NAWAZ: Many Americans feel we're living through an extraordinarily divided time.

You're producing and narrating this new documentary called "America's Burning."

I don't know if you've noticed, but things are kind of crazy lately.

Why has everything gotten so angry?

An offshoot of the pandemic are the rising tensions we've probably all been feeling.

Some people are calling it COVID rage.

MICHAEL BARBARO: This is "The Daily."

School board meetings have become the site of heated, at times violent fights over the country's most polarizing issues.

WOMAN: These are our kids!

Not yours!

MAN: Resign!

WOMAN: Resign, cowards!

MAN: Even if it started with the question of whether the schools should reopen, the focus has become so political.

REPORTER: The co-founders of Moms for Liberty join us right now, live from Orlando.

This is just the beginning of, of parents' voices being heard in their children's education in our country.

♪ What a wonderful world JAMES GREENWOOD: The polarization that is global and national has now come to visit us in Central Bucks County.

I've been called a child abuser, instigator.

A brat, the cause of COVID.

Conspiracy theorist.

A (muted).

Grandmother killer, a book banner.

The N word, a school shooter.

A homophobe, a xenophobe.

You know, you name it.

(people talking in background) DEARMOND: We are on the national stage-- our school board, the district I live in-- and it's turned into even more of a circus now.

(people talking in background) Once COVID happened, and once schools got shut down, that is absolutely where the division started.

(people talking in background) ♪ (people talking in background) KITTY SEMISCH: The school closure enraged wide swaths of the community.

We are now much more politicized and aware of the power that the school board has.

There was the COVID stuff and getting the kids back into school.

But then there was something else.

Conservatives truly, truly believe schools are turning out liberal, leftist, indoctrinated children.

I see more pride flags in my school than American flags, and it makes people who have a different opinion than that feel a little unsafe.

It is not okay for public schools to promote sex and gender ideology on children.

I did see one book that was banned, and it was, it was, like, porn.

It was, it was pretty gross.

Here is "Gender Queer."

It clearly depicts two minors engaged in sexual intercourse.

AARATI MARTINO: How does a librarian let this get in?

Like, don't they read every book before it goes in?

The Central Bucks School Board voting tonight to change policy that would allow the school board control over which books are allowed in school libraries.

MEGAN BROCK: There is a mission to socially transition children and it's happening in schools.

No one's telling anyone to be gay or trans.

They're telling them, "If you are, it's okay."

(speaks indistinctly) - They want this kind of return to these old-fashioned values and these, you know, white conservative values.

I thought the American way was equality of opportunity.

Equity is not a fundamentally American principle.

For someone to say that they don't want diversity, equity, and inclusion in Pennridge, then to me, you're saying you don't want my family here.

D.E.I.

is, is one of those terms that became a trigger word for the right.

I remember hearing a community member saying, "We don't want Black people taking over our schools."

We think diversity is people of different cultures, people of color, but respecting diversity is respecting everybody.

If you said you were a Christian, "Oh, you..." You know, I was treated like, "Oh, you're, you're kind of a goody two-shoes."

Now it's, like, "You're a Christian?

You're a Republican," or, "You're a bigot."

KAREN SMITH: This agenda the school board majority is pushing is coming down from a national level.

They're pushing this all across the country.

WOMAN: We are seeing a pattern of threats and violence.

REPORTER: In Bucks County, a contentious school board meeting became so heated that a recess was called.

Shut the (muted) up.

(audience gasping, exclaiming) (applauding) That's for you, buddy.

MAN: No, that's assault.

(shouting) No, Archie, Archie... You got a problem?

Let's talk about it.

CHAIR: Thank you-- no, no, no, no, no, no, no, sir, please.

WOMAN: What does that mean, "Philadelphia"?

You want to explain that comment?

It's really the weaponization of children.

For political agendas.

(people talking in background) ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming to experience the 70th annual reenactment of the famous crossing of the Delaware by General George Washington and his Continental Army.

It was 246 years ago that Washington made this historic crossing.

MAN: Fire!

(Evi humming "Yankee Doodle") Do you think a Dorito could kill someone from George Washington's time?

I mean, probably, 'cause it's, like, they have, like, a low resistance to diseases and crap.

(drum pounding) VANESSA: Is there a boat that he's gonna go on?

So he just went over there?

EVI: I think he did.

VANESSA: That's so... EVI: But, like, it was, like, historic.

(laughs) VANESSA: Dude, that's, like, nothing.

EVI: It was hailing, Vanessa.

VANESSA: I've been friends with Evi for, like, two years.

We met in seventh-grade social studies.

EVI: She's just a really funny, kind, like, amazing person.

She's so smart.

We're best friends, and we support each other, and I think I'm really energetic, and she's more, like, mellow.

So we balance each other out.

And so, yeah.

(laughs) (laughing): We're polar opposites, but we find the best things to connect over.

We put aside our differences, our different political beliefs, and we just bond over shared interests.

We really like history and that kind of stuff.

(people talking in background) Flag 101.

VANESSA: George Washington actually crossed the Delaware River right here in Bucks County.

On Christmas Day in 1776.

And we're at the reenactment, and we're very excited.

(drums begin) (fifes and drums playing) Want to join?

(band continues) (music fades) WOMAN: Roughly a third of people wanted independence, a third of people did not want independence, and a third of people were undecided.

There are so many facets to making that decision.

More so if you have children.

Children are not safe from what happens in the war.

Just because they do not have uniforms on does not mean they're any less affected by what is happening politically in their country.

(people talking in background) JOHN GODZIEBA: Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, sir.

- Mm-hmm.

Oh, there was no handshakes back then?

What?

- Were there handshakes back then?

- Well, Virginia gentlemen didn't shake hands, they bowed.

VANESSA: Oh!

EVI: Oh, that's cool.

Especially for such a, a young lady as I would, I would, I would be very... - Oh, thank you so much.

Would I curtsy?

- Yes, you would.

Okay.

(laughs) (people talking in background) LELA CASEY: We're a purple county in a, in a purple state.

EVI: Purple.

We're kind of divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Oh.

- So, we're not peaceful.

We're always, we're always going to have some challenge.

(drums playing) AARATI: They talk about this area of Bucks County being a bellwether district, so we're, like, this microcosm.

Everything that's happening in the United States, we kind of have a copy of it right here in Central Bucks.

(fifes and drums playing) You have this beautiful ecosystem that, you know, just relies on trust and people working together, but it's just so easy for a few people with a negative value to just kind of corrupt and break that.

(band continues) EVI: I think there's always been a lot of discourse and conflict around the world, but in our town specifically, things got a lot worse during COVID.

VANESSA: There's just a lack of empathy or compassion for your fellow human.

♪ I'm Vanessa.

- And I'm Evi.

And this is the story of our town.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (birds chirping) VANESSA: We're in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

We want to show people our town and show people that friendship can occur regardless of your political opinions.

Her family's, like, more conservative, and my family is very liberal, but we're still best friends.

I think it's important to show that people can have differing opinions and still love and respect each other.

Yeah, we see each other as humans and not for our political views.

You may say, "What do you know?

You're a bunch of kids."

But we see and hear what's going on, as well.

EVI: Maybe you'll see yourself or someone you know in this story.

At least we hope so.

(cars passing) (band playing) ♪ Whenever summer comes around ♪ Time to bring the crew from field to town ♪ (band continues) ♪ What is that strange sound you hear?

♪ ♪ The banjo's getting loud as you get near ♪ ♪ No need to fear ♪ That's right, we're here ♪ Perkasie Farmers' Market ♪ Never did a bad thing for me I think there are few places better to raise your kids, in the country, better than Bucks County.

I grew up in Lansdale.

You know, I could walk to Freddy Hill and get ice cream.

I went to a great public school.

I had a neighborhood where I could play stickball in the cul-de-sac.

So, Aarati and I had a deal that when we had our kids, we would move back here, because we weren't going to raise them in crazy San Francisco.

(chuckles) AARATI: The thing that I remember the most is, we were at a four-way stop.

And in California, you're racing to get to the stop, to beat everyone else to the stop, so you can just keep going, right?

But here, everyone else is waving the other person to go.

I'm, like... (gasps) "Oh, my God.

"This is like how it is in Alabama, "where people are nice to you and they talk to you "and they're not just trying to get ahead of you all the time."

I was, like, "Oh, my gosh, yes, we absolutely have to live here."

I grew up watching "Leave It to Beaver."

I grew up watching all these... You know, I, I wanted my kids to have that feel.

ADRIENNE: This community is great.

I mean, when we moved here, we were just driving by, checking on our... - Our plot.

(both laugh) ...dirt and concrete... Our plot, our plot.

ADRIENNE: ...I'll say.

The neighbors who had already been here, they'd see us driving, and they'd stop the car, like, they'd be having things in the driveway, and say, "Hey, come back."

And they invited us over for, like, a Fourth of July cookout.

We didn't even live here yet.

I would say every weekend, we were all at someone's house.

- Correct.

And it was great, because we all had kids.

So it's just, bring the kids, families come, and we'd just hang out.

And so that lasted up until COVID.

EVI: We learned about pandemics in school, but I never thought we'd actually have one.

VANESSA: It felt like a vacation at first.

EVI: Until it wasn't.

VANESSA: And that's when everyone went crazy.

KITTY: I'm Katherine Good Semisch.

I'm Kitty to my friends.

I taught for 27 years in public school, about 25 of them at Central Bucks West High School.

And I loved it there.

It's like the archetypal American high school, with the clock tower and the whole-- everything.

♪ It was a beautiful place in many, many ways.

It was not a perfect-- there is no such thing as a perfect high school, and yes, we had a lot of problems, but there was a esprit de corps, and I, I don't know that there is now.

It's, like, it is penetrating.

The divisiveness is, like, eating down into the students' experience.

March and February of 2020, I think me and a lot of people, I mean, we thought that it was only going to be, like, two weeks off of school.

So we were, like, "Yay!"

We were, like, kind of, like, happy about it.

I don't think we really realized how much of, like, a toll the pandemic would have on our lives.

♪ STEVEN BELDER: The lockdowns really contributed to the divisiveness, because people began just watching their one news channel, with no opportunities for opposing discussions.

That two-year gap, for many people like me, in the most critical points of development, was taken away.

♪ KITTY: I have not taught since June of 2021, and it was already really heating up.

It became very perilous.

You always felt like you were on thin ice.

Parents could tune in and hear what we were doing in the classroom.

There was no longer a sense of just creating a learning community.

You were always being observed, or you didn't know if you were being observed.

It was awful for teachers.

What I hear from my friends, and I'm sure that this is not true for everybody, is that all they talk about is when they can retire.

They want out-- they are miserable.

Morale is horrible.

It's just punishing.

♪ DEARMOND: My name is Vonna DeArmond.

I have three boys and I teach third-graders.

I spent hours every day during the beginning of COVID researching anything I could.

I was concerned-- I'm a high-risk person.

I'm one of those people that, this could potentially kill me.

What I saw happen was, people in power take advantage of that fear, and it caused people to divide even more.

You see someone wearing a mask, and you automatically, "Oh, they're a Democrat," you know?

It's unfortunate that these lines have been drawn, but now it's very much... I, I'm, I'm guarded.

I, I first see, you know, decide, like, "Is this person someone I can trust?"

♪ EVI: Like, people would, like, not want to be friends with people that weren't wearing masks or that were wearing masks, and I felt like it shouldn't be that way, like, in school.

Like, we should all, like, be able to, like, like, not know, like, not worry about political opinions when we're so young.

But I feel like the school board were just, like, like... 'Cause it was getting so drastic, it was, like, affecting the community.

(birds chirping) ♪ LELA: Are you honestly gonna wear this?

I'm honestly gonna wear this dress.

(laughs) I don't understand how you're gonna wear this to school.

EVI: I'm named after the Evian Springs in France.

(man speaking indistinctly) She named me after a water bottle!

(laughs) - She did!

(laughing): It's not... EVI: The Evian water bottle company.

That's what she named me after.

- No, no, no.

I didn't name you after it.

You said, "What a pretty name to waste on water."

And then you named me that.

- That's true, actually.

I cannot believe you're wearing this... I'm honest... - ...to school.

(laughing): It's beautiful.

I'm like a Disney princess.

I have to have it here.

You're just like a princess.

I'm just like a princess.

Like a wacky, wacky princess.

(laughs) Evi, she goes to school wearing these big, elaborate... - Oh, yeah!

...ball gowns and tutus and... - I wear puffy skirts to school every day-- I'm known as the puffy skirt girl.

LELA: Yeah.

EVI: I love wearing my skirts.

They really make me feel like me more than anything.

And also, I'm just expressing all my weirdness, so that all my friends, like, they have to deal with, deal with that or, like, not be, like, not be my friend anymore.

'Cause being associated with me is being associated with all that weirdness.

(Lela laughing) (laughing): It's okay, it's okay.

It's fine.

- It's fine.

Just fine.

Originally, with the school board stuff, I think the first meeting I ever went to was 'cause they wanted to say mostly, like, about, like, white history.

Wasn't that... - Like, whitewash history.

Yeah, yeah, and I spoke out against that.

I'd go to the school board meetings, like, 'cause, like, I want things to be fixed.

LELA: Hey.

EVI: Hello there.

How is that maneuvering?

- (speaks indistinctly) Perfect-- like, actually really functional.

You don't even know.

When things get really crazy, I like to listen to "Hamilton."

It's my favorite musical of all time.

It speaks to me, really, a lot.

It's about, like, passion and legacy and fighting for what you believe in.

As, like, a historical figure, Hamilton is unrelenting in what he believed in.

Like, he kept fighting, and he's so passionate, and I relate to that.

(laughs) (Lela and Evi talking in background) LELA: Some of Evi's good friends are children of these really high-profile, right-wing sort of... EVI: Yeah, nowadays, like, I'll know who their parents are.

I'll see them at school board meetings and stuff.

And yeah, it's a little awkward sometimes.

LELA: Bye, I love you.

Have a great day.

- I love you.

LELA: Bye, I love you.

- I love you.

I feel like we're learning to, like, be friends with the people that agree with you.

LELA: Do you feel like you fight against that?

EVI: Yeah-- yeah, well... You still do it, 'cause it's important, right?

Yeah, but I feel like not everyone's that way.

A lot of my friends wouldn't be friends with them if they, like, knew that their parents were that way.

Like, they just wouldn't.

So, like, what you're learning is that you're not supposed to... - Yeah.

...but you're going against that.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing.

- Gotcha.

(dog barks in distance) VANESSA: I'm 14 and I just finished eighth grade, so I'm going to be going into ninth grade.

I like doing Rubik's Cubes, especially the bigger ones.

The smaller Rubik's Cubes focus a lot more on speed, and for the larger ones, you can focus a lot more on just having fun solving the puzzle.

♪ I got my morals and values a lot from the kids I've interacted with at school and my parents.

It's good to listen to views that you might not agree with, but I think having a good relationship with your parents and developing their beliefs is important, as well.

Oh!

(laughs) Me and my mom, we really like watching shows together.

And I have so many extracurriculars that the car rides from one place to the next, we talk about stuff while we're driving.

I don't really see my dad much-- he's always traveling.

So I guess we don't really have something like that.

(card hits wall, Vanessa laughs) Card throwing is really cool.

It has a lot of history behind it.

Like, magicians use it to throw cards in the audience or do tricks.

I watched a YouTube video and then my dad bought a DVD for me for my birthday.

(laughing) (card hits wall) My friends and I, we don't really have a lot in common.

A lot of my friends are a lot more left-leaning when it comes to politics and stuff.

And listening to their viewpoints, I think, is very important and having, like, healthy debates with them, as well.

And it's definitely harder for two people with opposing views to get along and find something to bond over.

That's really sad.

Our daughter is very good friends with one of the daughters of someone I would describe as as far on the other team as I am on our team.

(speaks indistinctly) PAUL: While we can argue over here, our kids are going to stay good friends, and I think that's important.

We got one of your favorite games, Burbles.

We're going to play Password first, okay?

VANESSA (softly): I forget how to play.

You forget how to play?

- Yeah?

Come on, Burbles.

You get three words, up to three total words, to try and guess what the clue is.

And there's five words and the last one's always hard.

So I'm gonna be the clue giver first, and all three of you can guess.

AARATI: Okay.

- So, um... My name is Paul Martino.

I've started eight companies, and in my day job as a venture capitalist, I've now invested in 150.

My two children, Vanessa and Zach, they're here in the Central Bucks School District.

(talking in background) The kids were supposed to go back to school to start the 2021-2022 calendar.

And, you know, two weeks before the school was supposed to start, the superintendent came out and said, "Sorry, the kids are going all virtual.

Good luck figuring out this."

The entrepreneur and businessperson in me was offended by the fact that that superintendent was incompetent to get the school open.

Rose... Garden.

Paul's, like, "Look, "I'm gonna put money into these candidates that are going to promise to put the kids back into school."

It, it wasn't even a liberal-conservative thing.

It was a single issue: get the kids back in school.

'Cause I understand that it was very scary back then, but there were people that were willing to take it on and figure it out.

So, like, let's support you folks.

ZACH: Crime.

Crime scene.

Oh, um... - Tape?

No.

There's yellow tape.

- Evidence?

Yeah.

- Evidence!

Good job, Burbles.

- Oh, they're, now, Vanessa's... She always gets the hard... Evidence, that's another hard word.

Evidence is a freaking hard word.

I know-- Vanessa's the one that reads your mind.

ZACH: This one's, this one's hard.

PAUL: I got involved in the 2021 election to get the school open.

We were trying to solve a problem, and we solved the problem in Central Bucks, and that's how a lot of things snowballed from there.

I said, "Look, that's not good enough "for our kids, my kids included.

Let's go do something about that."

REPORTER: Frustrated by his children's school remaining virtual, Paul Martino launched a PAC, Back to School in PA, and pledged $500,000 to school board members that run on a platform focused on keeping schools open.

If people on the other team have an opposing point of view and they want to empower parents like we're doing on a different issue, please join the party.

LELA: Paul Martino, we didn't know him.

It was only during the school board elections, when he started to put all this money in, and the, and first, people kept saying it was, like, dark money, and, and we didn't know... - Dark money?

It's, like, you don't know where the money's coming from.

Oh, and then we found out it was him?

But then it, and then it was, it was him-- I mean, I don't... I don't know if that was an appropriate term to use, "dark money," because he was clearly saying, "I'm giving this money."

And so all of us began researching him, and, and, um... He's definitely allies with, with the right.

(John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town" playing in background) He's the one that manipulated our school boards in an enormous way, across the state of Pennsylvania.

And he lives right in our town.

So when she started coming home and telling me she's friends... Actually, I, I, we met them at a party.

Um, the, the mom, and I didn't realize who it was.

And I actually got along quite well with the mom.

And then we realized... - Yeah.

(crowd applauding) I feel like it's sad that politics is affecting who I'm friends with.

LELA: Right.

EVI: 'Cause it's always a little awkward, like, hanging out... LELA: Right, but I don't tell you you can't hang out with certain kids.

EVI: No, no, you don't tell me that.

I just feel like it's a little awkward.

I feel like it shouldn't affect them.

Vanessa!

Vanessa!

Save our nation, save our schools.

I don't think my mom would let me go to her house.

(laughs) I don't know.

(chuckles) Um, it's a good question, um... I told you before, you can hang out in, in town.

Yeah, um, we do.

- And she can come here, but... It's a pretty big divide.

I mean, it depends on the family, depends on the person, but, um... Yeah.

(laughs) I don't know.

It's a little bit uncomfortable.

It's, we're just in a kind of an uncomfortable situation, I think, with families that are so far right-wing.

(drums playing in distance, people talking in background) The school board people that Paul Martino put in the first election were, like, QAnon people.

Like, people that were really dangerous to our community.

He kept saying he wanted these people in because of their policies on COVID, because they weren't going to close the schools.

He's one issue, one issue, one issue, which was so short-sighted.

Because he put in people who are, like, talking about teachers being demons, but, oh, they wanted to open the schools.

Like, you can't be one-issue when you're putting someone into such an important position.

♪ ♪ ♪ PAUL: These people on social media are just being unbelievable.

Let's go.

AARATI: I think you can't feed the trolls.

That's what I was saying.

Yeah, I know, that's it.

- And then... We were so shocked when people started saying we were bad people for funding these things.

It was, like, 80% of the parents surveyed in the district wanted their kids back in school.

And somehow we're the bad guys for wanting to make that happen?

(both talking in background) It looks like someone actually wrote a negative article about my husband and a couple other people saying that we're part of QAnon or something.

And, and we're, like, "What?

We don't even know what QAnon is."

And that's when, that's when they made Paul really mad.

PAUL: Somehow we end up through this, almost "Through the Looking Glass" moment of craziness around school board races, when keeping the schools open is the only reason I got involved in any of this.

Central Bucks.

- Yeah.

Right in the middle of the crazy.

Yeah, well... TUCKER CARLSON: Welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

Nothing changes a society long-term more than the way we teach our children.

There were more than 3,000 book bans in schools last year, 1,000 more than the year before.

REPORTER: The debate over CRT rages on.

"I am a teacher, and yes, critical race theory is in your school."

Parents speaking out tonight about a student who's transgender using a bathroom at a West Jordan elementary school.

REPORTER: A Tennessee school board has banned the critically acclaimed graphic novel "Maus."

REPORTER: A school district in North Texas told teachers to balance books taught about the Holocaust with others that have a "opposing perspective."

Efforts to turn non-partisan school boards into politically conservative decision makers earned some big wins here in Florida.

Is it true you got over 160 school board members elected in Pennsylvania?

That's correct-- the district that we're referring to was one of the places where we got three new members elected to flip the board majority.

And, boy, we really pissed them off when we flipped board majorities.

(talking and laughing) ♪ (conversation continues) ♪ This is where the school board meets.

This is where the crazy happens.

(people talking in background) EVI: I've been to a lot of school board meetings, and people say a lot of crazy things.

It can be very intense.

(people talking in background) SMITH: The school board election in 2021 was like nothing I have ever seen in school board elections.

Miss Radcliffe, will you... SMITH: Back in the 2000s, people didn't even have signs.

(members talking softly) In 2021, it was vicious.

You have Neighbors United for the Democratic candidates, and then you have, on the Republican side, one person, Paul Martino's PAC, really buying those seats.

So now our board is six to three, Republican-Democrat.

Regardless of whether or not there was discussion, these actions violate the intention of the Sunshine Act.

I approach every board meeting with, like, a pit in my stomach.

There were conversations from which we were excluded.

There were no conversations in which you were... There were conversations between you... DEBRA CANNON (loudly): Do you have proof of these conversations?

Provide them-- send them out to the media.

SMITH: We've kind of forgotten how to begin to work together on coming to middle ground.

RICK HARING: We're missing a level of civility where we're having constructive conversations to make decisions that help support teaching and learning in this district.

That's what this is all about.

And if you guys don't recognize that, then you don't belong sitting in those seats.

We must turn away from irrelevant personal attacks to honor our community's children.

They hear what we say.

We need to create a raucous harmony that fosters the unique potential of each child.

There have been many speakers who have come up to this podium and villainized conservatives, Republicans, Christians, and it's disgusting-- it's hateful.

Everything here is a big circus.

You guys should be ashamed of yourselves.

That's all I have.

(audience applauding) SHARON COLLOPY: This is my eighth year on the board coming to an end, and we used to get along.

It is two main issues that are dividing us.

So the first one, COVID.

That's what started this.

And unfortunately, there is lingering anger on both sides.

And then all of a sudden, number-two issue pops up: the sexualization of our children.

That's where we disagree.

SMITH: If COVID taught parents any one thing, it's that the people who sit on your school board dictate your child's day-to-day life.

What's happened is that the folks who were very angry and upset with the district about the COVID issues have now turned their sights on other issues.

I believe the division is due to pushing an agenda on our children, using the public schools and subverting the rights of parents.

You are a teacher, here to educate, not to determine any child's gender or sexual orientation or to have conversations about that.

There is a problem with how LGBTQ+ students in Central Bucks are treated and how their suffering and obstacles have escalated over the past year-and-a-half or so.

What I have been talking about for the last two to three years is my concern for marginalized groups of students.

♪ They are being persecuted, honestly, and traumatized.

And it hurts me, it really upsets me.

♪ If the Republicans remain in power in the board, I am seriously concerned for the future of our community and kids.

♪ DEARMOND: The left's saying, "We've got extremists on our board."

We do not have extremists on our board.

Especially when those people are calling for more neutrality-- you know, they're trying to have policies that are more neutral, that can be evenly applied... (sniffs) ...to me, that's not extreme.

That's the way we always did things before.

It's not new.

We're heading into an election year for the school board.

And I'm concerned what's going to happen if people get on the board that I think would do terrible things to our school.

(people talking in background) It makes me wonder what I'm going to have to do for my kids' education.

(people talking in background) EVI: If I was writing a story about the school board, there's a lot of extremism.

(people talking in background) We need to band together and fight this threat with everything that we have and still find, like, human empathy for the people, and not tear the whole community apart.

(people talking in background) SMITH: I'm Karen Smith, I'm running for region one, re-election which is crazy, but... (people laughing) WOMAN: Third term.

Third!

Three terms, yes.

Thank you, everyone, for helping.

This election is really like no other in terms... I'm currently serving my second term on the Central Bucks School Board.

I'm wearing a T-shirt that says "Affirm LGBTQ Youth."

I have been wearing generally T-shirts similar to this to board meetings for the last year.

(people talking in background) I'm trying to send a message to LGBTQ students.

I know they've been hurt by some of the actions that our board has taken.

They're kids.

They're 15, 16, 17 years old.

And adults are saying horrible things about them.

...give a right to a transgender.

SMITH: I think that my own experiences with my son and our family helped me have a lot of empathy for kids who are really unique.

...right just by saying you're transgender.

SMITH: My son has several mental health issues.

Eventually, he had to go to a residential therapeutic school.

That time was extraordinarily dark.

I hope that my experience can give me that sensitivity to help those families who just need extra support.

LEIGH VLASBLOM: ...given to us before the last meeting.

SMITH: I'm hoping by running again that... (laughs) ...we will make a lot of positive change in the district.

Often school board is, like, the bottom of the ticket.

(laughs) And we're not-- it's now like this.

Other races are going to hinge on the school board race.

♪ ♪ There we go.

(exhales) Looks good-- all right.

♪ You ready to go?

Vanessa, you want to go?

Here-- you want to take your purse with you?

When I went to one of the school board meetings earlier this year, they talked about how, you know, everything's getting more expensive now.

So I thought, well, you know, people have tons of pencils.

And I have tons of school supplies laying around.

Let's just collect it and give it to the schools.

So got some buckets here.

Hopefully, we'll fill them up with some good stuff later today.

And then there's another box on the laundry.

VANESSA: My mom is running for the school board.

It's important to have someone who is going to be there to help the students and not for any other reason.

And I think she would be a really good person for that.

She really wants to help the school board be more focused on mathematics and helping the kids get educated and be interested in STEM.

She's a computer engineer and she really wants kids to have an interest in that, as well.

Here.

When I was ten, I learned how to program in BASIC.

Do you want me to get them out?

And I was, like, "Wow, I really want to go to M.I.T.

and build robots-- I think that would be so cool."

He's our security rabbit.

Likes to go in and check in on everybody.

♪ Actually ended up doing my PhD at Stanford.

Come on, buddy.

Of course, while I was at Stanford, that's when I met Paul.

Nope, nope, nope, nope-- come on.

Toothless?

This sounds so cheesy, but it's, like, there's, like, this twinkle in his eye.

I'm, like, "There's something really special about that guy.

There's something in his eyes"-- I remember just thinking that.

I'm, like, "I gotta keep an eye on that guy.

That guy's special, he's, he's someone I need to know."

Come out.

There he is-- come on, let's go.

We're actually each successful in our own right.

Like, I was successful, technically, before I married him, all right?

So it's, you know... I got you.

He's lucky to be with me is what I was trying to say.

But serious-- no, that is serious.

But I think education can do some amazing things for you.

My mom grew up in poverty in India.

But, you know, she went to school, she became a nurse, my dad became a physician, they came to America, right?

And they ended up being pretty successful here.

And so it's, like, I have a duty to actually make sure that these kinds of structures are in place for the next generation.

And part of the reason why I'm running for school board is, I want to preserve this and protect this.

Let's figure out a good place to set up.

They have a bunch of picnic benches everywhere.

In my opinion, it's all about shining a light on the extreme, extreme, extreme progressive left.

This is not Democrats and Republicans.

This is regular people against these really divisive and woke philosophies.

And then even just today, I was reading about a student at Stanford.

She has to purposely pretend to be a communist in order to get a good grade in one of her classes, right?

(laughing) It's, it's not, that's not what education should be about.

And it's all because of this ideology.

We're seeing the same stuff happening here.

And we're, like, "Look, "we think we have enough friends and enough capital "to be able to fight it, to at least prevent it from ruining this area."

If we can also figure out how to solve these horrible divisions that have plagued us for, like, the past, I don't know, eight years now, like, how awesome would... Maybe then we can actually kind of help the whole country heal.

And this is where I think actually being face to face and talking to each other, I think that's really important.

I'm really hoping, if I'm lucky enough to get elected on the school board, we should all go out together and get drinks and hang out and talk to each other about these things.

VANESSA: When my mom said that she was going to run for school board, a weird part of me was kind of scared, because I do know how some, like, government officials are treated on social media and that kind of stuff.

From what I've heard, people are saying, like, untrue things.

(laughing): My dad, he's not, like, an evil businessman-- he's a good dad, and he's just trying to do his best for his kids and the kids in his school district.

(people talking in background) For my mom, they're saying she's power-hungry, she's a terrible person.

I wish they knew that that's not who she is.

She wants to help her kids and make sure that school board remains good and that Bucks County remains good.

AARATI: I think that's why... Like, they say this about my family, like, the MAGA-Martino Millionaires or whatever it is, right?

And it's, like, "That's all you're gonna say about me, is, like...?"

Yeah, I'm successful.

Don't-- I'm gonna teach your kids to be successful, too, Stupid, like... (laughing) Like-- but, oh, we're the far-right wing, right?

Like... MAN: Right.

AARATI: Yeah.

VANESSA: I feel like my life has changed since they got involved with school board.

I think for the better, I'd say.

They're, they're, teaching me about hard work and being involved in your community and getting your hands dirty, as well.

(people talking in background) So many people, they sit around and they complain.

"Oh, why is the school board doing this?

Why are they doing that?"

And my mom, like, and my dad, they're, like, actually doing things about what they don't like-- they're making change, and I, I really, I really, I respect them for that.

ALLISON BARBER: All right?

That's what I've been saying to Stephen and to Tony and to Glenn.

- Hello.

BARBER: You know, like, family members of mine... Hi.

- ...who, um... Can I just give you a quick hug?

How are you?

Nice to see you.

My, my good friend, Vonna-- Vonna, this is Allison Barber.

Hi, nice to meet you.

- What's your name?

Allison Barber.

- Allison?

What's your name?

- Vonna DeArmond.

Vonna-- you look familiar to me for some reason.

DEARMOND: This election is gonna be even more contentious than the last election, because it's like "The Empire Strikes Back."

(laughs) At least that's how I see it.

♪ ♪ DIANA LEYGERMAN: When we found out Aarati was running, I think we knew that this was gonna be one of the worst races ever.

LELA: Yeah, yeah.

Because he would stop at nothing.

Yes.

- Because it's so... Now it's, like... - Yes.

It's personal.

- Now it's personal.

It's personal.

- You know?

Whereas before, you can just... - Right, right.

...throw money at the problem.

I don't know what's going to happen if we don't win.

- I don't, either.

Because this agenda will not stay confined to a school board.

- No, no.

(laughing): You know what I mean?

Like, like, it will affect everything.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MAN: Bucks is a really important county in national politics.

The voters are pretty much the prize voters being fought over by both parties.

They're up for grabs, and this year, the issues that have become so politicized are school issues.

So any small change in Bucks with that particular demographic could have national implications.

Pennsylvania may prove to be the most important swing state of all.

The battleground state of Pennsylvania in focus in today's primaries.

♪ PAUL: Hey, how are you?

See?

SERVER: Good-- how are you?

We come in and get booze here all the time, right?

I recognize you, yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(laughing) PAUL: Yeah, yeah.

This is going to be so much... We drink at every lunch meeting.

(laughs) No matter how early it starts, by the way, so we're... - (laughing): It doesn't matter.

If it starts at 10:00 a.m., we drink!

PAUL: The PAC I started, I hired a woman who was right-leaning, Clarice Schillinger.

I said, "How can I help you?

"How can I write you a check?

"How can I invest in what you're doing and basically franchise what you're doing?"

And so the venture person in me was excited about what a good executive I had actually met, not just another pissed-off suburban housewife.

Which she was, make no mistake.

But I was, like, "Wow, she could go run stuff, cool!"

And that's where we became friends quickly.

SCHILLINGER: You're gonna have way more press and way more bad press than before, because we're gonna go to the hornets' nest.

Well, look, I got a piece of hate mail I think I sent to you the other day.

- Yes.

Discussed how, unless you are a white WASP, you're unwelcome in Bucks County.

I'm, like, "Hmm, that's really interesting.

"First, I'm Catholic, my wife's Indian, "and my kids are biracial.

None of them seem to have a problem."

They're gonna come attack you 'cause you're a cis white male.

But it's unfortunate, because Aarati's going to be attacked through that.

Of course she will be-- she will be.

I do mind some of the truly nasty, awful things that people have said about me and my family, in particular, Aarati.

Some, some of this stuff's just, just... It's so, it's so out of... I don't know why people would say those things.

They want us to feel uncomfortable.

How are you supposed to fix something with someone who proclaims on Twitter, "My job is to antagonize you"?

Now, you might not like me, you might, might not like the, the mailers I ran.

Does it seem like I wake up in the morning with somebody in mind to antagonize as my day job?

Listen, what, what the other side never seems to understand is, we actually read what they actually write.

- Yes.

We actually read their own articles.

Yes.

- We read their books.

Yep.

Everybody always tells me about, I'm friends with James O'Keefe.

O'Keefe loves reading Saul Alinsky.

He loves using those tactics.

- Yeah.

And quite frankly, one of the great authors of all this calls it "progressive tolerance."

You ever heard that one?

- Mm-hmm.

"Progressive tolerance."

"We will have tolerance to ideas from the left and no tolerance from ideas from the right."

That's right.

And when you have your progressive symbols on display at the school, the kids know exactly which team you're on... Yes.

- ...and what will be tolerated and what won't be tolerated.

- Yeah, yes.

And that is playbook 101 from their playbook.

So for us to be labeled as the people who want to advance the culture wars... That's, like, that's why the whole, the whole thing, "Martino and his puppet Schillinger"-- ooh, ooh!

- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

- They had the strategy to go take over the school boards.

What are they gonna do next?

What is their secret agenda?

If you had let me alone, maybe I wouldn't have stayed in the race the way I have.

But now that you've made this personal, now that you've called me out, well, no, I, I'm not gonna back down from a fight.

Give me two months... I do think that the vitriol will be worse this election.

I think the left viewed Central Bucks as a microcosm of what they wanted to do on a national level.

That Central Bucks was a test case for how they could advance their ideology in a purple area.

And because of COVID, not because of politics, because of COVID, me and Clarice and a bunch of other like-minded people showed up.

Boy, this really pissed them off that we showed up.

And so as a result, I think they're gonna take it as a point of personal pride to try and stick it to us in 2023.

And that's why I ain't going anywhere.

Left or right, everybody always wants to talk to me, 'cause they're, like, "Yo, dude, what's going on?"

(laughs) Right?

Central Bucks is the Loudoun County.

It-- right, right, this is the bellwether of the bellwether.

- 100%.

Changing these contentious school districts, it not only changes the school districts, it changes the congressional races.

Yep.

- The House races, the Senate races.

- Totally does.

It changes everything.

That's the ticket to the dance.

You and I were with our friend Mark Meckler, who started the Tea Party.

He said, "Look, Martino, at the end of the day, "people are gonna get focused "on the, on the presidential race.

"But a lot of this comes down "to who wins the county commissioner's race.

"A lot of this comes down "to who's on your school board.

- 100%.

"Focus on 2023, "making sure that your wife "gets elected to the school board.

Yes.

- "Because that's something you can do."

- Yes.

But what I told Aarati is the following: "Your budget for the race "to win your seat in Central Bucks is infinite."

(laughing): I love it.

Just to be clear.

Cheers.

To drinking.

To drinking.

- Mm-hmm.

To drinking and burning it down.

(laughs) WOMAN: We're on our own-- it's just regular people like us.

It's moms and dads, and we don't have money behind us or anybody... REPORTER: Passions are running high tonight at the Central Bucks School District.

MAN: Parental rights.

You decide how you're gonna raise your kids.

REPORTER: Pride flag stolen from outside a Bucks County business.

MAN (on voicemail): You can't even manage your weight, you fat, hideous (muted).

(voices overlapping) (static hissing) ♪ ♪ VANESSA: The school board election's coming up, and people are going to be fighting over all kinds of things.

Like LGBTQ rights and pride flags and neutrality.

VANESSA: And my mom's running.

REPORTER: School boards are now the center of culture wars.

"Oh, the Martinos are trying to take over the whole district."

It's, like, "That's right.

"We're going to take over the whole district "and make everyone learn math and learn how to code," right?

- (laughs) "That's what we're going to do to all y'all."

Yes.

- The Martino name is linked to the chaos on the board.

Up next, we will return to Bucks County, U.S.A., as fears of indoctrination intensify, race and LGBTQ issues flare up, and new policies come to a vote at contentious school board meetings.

One of the things that I was most captivated by is a roundtable discussion among students on both sides and the level of respect they show each other.

Please become a part of more conversations like this and share your thoughts at #BucksCountyUSA or tag your local PBS affiliate.

♪