Pranks, Parties and Politics: Ron DeSantis’s Year as a Schoolteacher - The New York Times

Twenty years agone successful the foothills of northwest Georgia, a caller past teacher joined the module of 1 of the state’s oldest and largest boarding schools.

He was a brash young Ivy League graduate, an jock who made it wide to anyone who was listening that this sojourn astatine Darlington School was a pit halt connected his mode to bigger things; possibly helium would adjacent beryllium president immoderate day, helium told his students.

Amid the revolving doorway of caller assemblage graduates who taught astatine 1 clip oregon different astatine the autarkic backstage school, the teacher, conscionable 23 astatine the time, was the speech of the 20-year people reunion past period astatine Darlington for 1 important reason: helium is present politician of Florida.

The episodes that erstwhile students picture astir Gov. Ron DeSantis’s twelvemonth astatine Darlington connection a model into the formative years of 1 of the astir polarizing figures successful American politics, a rising Republican person who is expected to easy triumph re-election adjacent week, and past perchance acceptable his sights connected the White House.

As a shot and shot manager astatine the school, Mr. DeSantis was admired and respected by his team. As a teacher, helium was remembered by immoderate erstwhile students arsenic cocky and arrogant. He erstwhile publically embarrassed a pupil with a prank, hung retired astatine parties with seniors and got into debates astir the Civil War with students who questioned the focus, and sometimes the accuracy, of his lessons.

The politician who has taken connected the “woke left” implicit the teaching of history, sex individuality and intersexual predisposition showed signs backmost past of being a committed conservative, a young, chill teacher whom girls liked and boys envied.

“He was a full jock; that was his personality,” said Gates Minis, a 2003 postgraduate who lives successful Colorado. “He was decidedly arrogant that helium graduated Ivy and thought helium was precise special.”

But Mr. DeSantis was fashionable among galore students.

“He was decidedly 1 of the cooler guys,” said Trip Barnes, a pupil whose parent taught astatine the school. “There were different young teachers who tried to beryllium everybody’s person who didn’t person astir his mystique.”

He was “charismatic” and “very smart,” Mr. Barnes said. “People liked him.”

Mr. DeSantis’s bureau did not respond to requests to sermon his twelvemonth astatine Darlington, oregon his students’ recollections. The politician does not see his twelvemonth arsenic a precocious schoolhouse teacher successful galore of his official biographies, and does not look to person spoken publically astatine magnitude astir his clip astatine the school.

Mr. DeSantis taught astatine Darlington successful the 2001-02 schoolhouse twelvemonth aft graduating from Yale University and conscionable earlier attending Harvard Law School.

The coed autarkic boarding and time schoolhouse successful Rome, Ga., founded successful 1905, was among the archetypal backstage schools successful the South to admit Black students, according its website. Several students of colour who spoke with The Times said they had been recruited with generous scholarships.

Boarding students unrecorded successful 1 of six dormitories connected a lush, 500-acre field northwest of Atlanta successful an country present represented successful Congress by a blimpish firebrand, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Students sojourn the nondenominational chapel erstwhile a week, tossing their backpacks connected the tract successful a mode that suggests nary 1 is disquieted astir theft. Tuition, country and committee for nonmigratory students present tops $50,000 a year.

Danielle Pompey remembers Mr. DeSantis, a Florida autochthonal and caller Yale grad, being an outsider similar her, a New Yorker with a heavy accent to match. But Ms. Pompey, who is Black and was connected an world scholarship, said she felt that Mr. DeSantis treated her worse due to the fact that of her race.

“Mr. Ron, Mr. DeSantis, was mean to maine and hostile toward me,” said Ms. Pompey, who graduated successful 2003. “Not aggressively, but passively, due to the fact that I was Black.”

She recalled Mr. DeSantis teaching Civil War successful a mode that sounded to her similar an effort to warrant slavery.

“Like successful past class, helium was trying to play devil’s advocator that the South had bully crushed to combat that war, to termination different people, implicit owning radical — Black people,” she said. “He was trying to say, ‘It’s not OK to ain people, but they had property, businesses.’”

Ms. Pompey said she saw parallels betwixt Mr. DeSantis’s views arsenic a young pedagogue and his policies arsenic a politician 20 years later.

“He had a bully accidental to enrich people, to travel determination from the Northeast and amusement radical successful the South that we tin blend,” she said. “It seemed similar helium didn’t privation to bash that.”

Ms. Minis, who is achromatic and was successful the aforesaid past people arsenic Ms. Pompey, besides remembers debating issues astir the Civil War. Mr. DeSantis wasn’t truthful overmuch politically opinionated, she said, but, successful her view, factually wrong. She remembers him claiming that each metropolis successful the South had burned, adjacent though she knew her hometown, Savannah, had not and she called him retired connected it.

Another pupil who requested anonymity due to the fact that helium feared repercussions for his occupation said Mr. DeSantis’s takes connected the Civil War were the taxable of truthful overmuch speech that students made a satirical video astir him astatine the clip for the video yearbook.

The video, which was reviewed by The Times, includes a abbreviated snippet successful which a dependable purporting to beryllium Mr. DeSantis is heard saying: “The Civil War was not astir slavery! It was astir 2 competing economical systems. One was successful the North. …” portion a pupil dozes successful class. (A pupil voiced the relation of Mr. DeSantis, due to the fact that students did not person immoderate existent footage of him, according to a pupil who helped enactment it together.)

Abortion was different contented that came up successful people astatine slightest once, according to Matthew Arne, a erstwhile student. Mr. Arne, who was a senior, said students talked among themselves astir Mr. DeSantis expressing his strict content that termination was wrong. He said it troubled him erstwhile his girlfriend, who was successful Mr. DeSantis’s past class, told him astir what Mr. DeSantis had said. He had grown up successful California, helium said, and disagreed with Mr. DeSantis’s stance.

“He’s beauteous overmuch held accelerated to what helium believes in,” Mr. Arne said. Ms. Minis added that helium ever seemed to person his oculus connected the future. “He seems similar idiosyncratic who, arsenic a young person, was successful it for the agelong game,” she said.

Several students described Mr. DeSantis arsenic having an aerial of superiority.

“Mr. DeSantis was benignant of a smug guy,” Mr. Arne said. Students were good alert that helium had conscionable graduated from Yale, helium said. “It was similar a, ‘I’m benignant of amended than you,’” helium said. “And we were each conscionable kids.”

Several students recalled that Mr. DeSantis was a predominant beingness astatine parties with the seniors who lived successful town. Most spoke astir socializing with him connected the information of anonymity due to the fact that they feared backlash for speaking publically astir it.

“As an 18-year-old, I retrieve thinking, ‘What are you doing here, dude?’” 1 erstwhile pupil said.

Ms. Minis said that erstwhile she was a senior, the autumn aft Mr. DeSantis left, she recovered a memo connected a teacher’s table reminding the unit that fraternizing with students was inappropriate, adjacent aft they graduated.

“‘That’s got to beryllium astir Mr. DeSantis!’ That’s what I retrieve everyone saying,” she said. Other students remembered astatine slightest 1 different teacher who had socialized with students that year.

Last year, Hill Reporter, a blog enactment retired by a Democratic ace PAC, published a photograph of Mr. DeSantis taken with respective pistillate students from Darlington successful 2002, 1 of whom was holding what appeared to beryllium a vessel of beer.

Two erstwhile students, some women, remembered him attending astatine slightest 2 parties wherever intoxicant was served, but they said that the parties took spot aft graduation and that they were not bothered by his beingness astatine the time, though they question it now. “It was his archetypal occupation retired of Yale, helium was cute. We didn’t truly deliberation excessively overmuch astir it,” 1 of the erstwhile students said.

Two different students remembered a prank involving Mr. DeSantis and a pupil who had bragged astir however overmuch beverage helium could drink.

They said Mr. DeSantis challenged the lad to guzzle arsenic overmuch beverage arsenic helium could successful 1 sitting. The lad did, and threw up arsenic dozens of students watched.

“I deliberation astir it, present — I’m a teacher present successful nationalist school,” said Adam Moody, who was a freshman connected the shot squad and witnessed the incident. “I enactment myself successful that moment, and it’s conscionable unthinkable. There’s a cruelty to the consciousness of humor. There’s a cruelty to the mentorship.”

A spokeswoman for Darlington declined to remark successful item astir Mr. DeSantis’s clip there.

The spokeswoman, Tannika King, said successful an email that Mr. DeSantis taught 5 classes, coached 2 sports and did “dorm duty,” supervising students extracurricular of people hours successful the residence halls.

Ken Wempe, who was teaching astatine the mediate schoolhouse erstwhile Mr. DeSantis taught history, said that lineup was known arsenic the “triple threat,” meaning that galore boarding schoolhouse teachers had larger workloads than astatine accepted time schools.

“You teach, manager and enactment successful the dormitory,” said Mr. Wempe, who is present a mediate schoolhouse main successful Indianapolis. He said helium earned astir $27,000 a twelvemonth astatine the time, with escaped lodging and nutrient successful the eating halls.

Like different first-year teachers, Mr. Wempe said, Mr. DeSantis was “drinking from a occurrence hose” and learning the occupation connected the fly. “My impressions of him were each positive,” helium said.

Lee Graddy, who graduated successful 2004 and was connected the shot squad that Mr. DeSantis coached, besides recalled him fondly.

“He kept to himself, but erstwhile you connected with him helium opened up and had a batch to give,” Mr. Graddy said. “He helped a batch of america retired determination connected the field, particularly erstwhile immoderate of america were distracted by being young adults.”

As a teacher, Mr. DeSantis “was capable to hone our minds to astatine slightest amusement that with hard enactment comes results,” helium said. “I cognize a fewer of america weren’t the greatest; with his guidance we became bully shot players and amended people.”

Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting.