He Took Phones From 6,500 Students: Father John Belmonte on the Ban That Actually Worked | Ep. 123
Every school leader I talk to says the same thing. We would love to ban phones, but the parents would never allow it. My guest did it for an entire diocese, 6,500 students across 15 schools, and the pushback was almost zero. I have spent years arguing that someone with real authority just needs to take the phones out of the classroom. Father John Belmonte actually did it, and then watched the kids come back to life. They are talking at lunch again. They are focusing in class again. At one high school, they started playing Uno. Father John Belmonte is a Jesuit priest and the Superintendent of Catholic Education for the Diocese of Venice, Florida. He holds a doctorate in educational leadership and spent a decade leading Catholic schools near Chicago before this. He is not a technophobe. His schools run one of the most advanced K-12 robotics programs in the country. He simply decided that phones have no place in a child’s school day, built the policy over a year, and rolled it out. The result is the thing I keep telling parents is possible and keep getting met with skepticism about. Less distraction, better focus, happier kids, and almost no complaints. He calls it common sense and a pretty easy fix, and after this conversation, it is hard to argue with him. What you’ll hear: How he banned phones for 6,500 students and got almost zero pushback What changed in the classrooms, the lunchrooms, and the kids themselves The simple answer to the emergency and tracking fears every parent raises Why he says never give a child a smartphone until high school or beyond The cousin who makes every guest surrender their phone at the door How his schools teach real tech skills without any social media If you take one thing from this episode, let it be his challenge: this can be done, at your school and at your table, and the fear of doing it is bigger than the cost. Follow Virtuous Leaders and leave a rating so the next parent finds it too. Follow Virtuous Leaders and leave a rating so the next person finds it too: https://open.spotify.com/show/6nuYwVQXFncPBm6g5C3SJI?si=f376e22069444270 More from Dr. Johann D’Souza: johanndsouza.com drjohanndsouza.substack.com linkedin.com/in/johanndsouza Book Dr. Johann D’Souza to speak: johanndsouza.com/speaking Guest resource: dioceseofvenice.org #FatherJohnBelmonte #DrJohannDSouza #VirtuousLeaders #PhoneFreeSchools #CatholicEducation
