时代周刊:一所特许学校的种族争议（2）（在线收听）

To Mystic Valley, this new criterion seemed like an attempt to impose race consciousness on a proudly egalitarian school.

对神秘谷来说，这个新标准似乎是试图将种族意识强加给一所自豪的平等主义学校。

When administrators expressed concerns that its charter was incompatible with the new cultural standards, the state insisted there was no issue.

当行政人员表示，其宪章与新的文化标准不兼容时，该州坚称没有问题。

Yet in May, when regulators conducted an interim performance review, they informed the school that it was only "partially conducive to learning” because of its approach to culture and identity.

然而，今年5月，监管机构进行了一项中期绩效评估，他们通知该学院，由于其对待文化和身份认同的方式，该校“只对学习有部分帮助”。

A draft report issued in September marked the school as not fully meeting the new standard.

今年9月发布的一份报告草案表明该校并未完全达到新标准。

Mystic Valley has sued the state over the cultural responsiveness criteria, which it fears could put its charter in jeopardy.

神秘谷已经就文化响应标准起诉了该州，它担心这可能会危及其宪章。

Such reviews are supposed to be unbiased and free of outside influence.

这样的审查应该是公正的，不受外界影响的。

But according to a trove of emails the school obtained through a public-records law suit, DESE employees were secretly coordinating with the school's critics, including the Henrys, the NAACP and local racial-justice activists unconnected to the school.

但学校通过公共档案诉讼获得的大量电子邮件显示，DESE的员工暗中与批评学校的人合作，包括亨利夫妇、NAACP和与学校无关的当地种族正义活动人士。

The critics appeared to strategize with the state officials to go after Mystic Valley.

批评人士似乎与州政府官员一起制定了针对神秘谷的策略。

In their emails, the activists advocated a "stealth approach,” using "cloak and dagger” tactics.

在他们的电子邮件中，这些活动人士主张悄无声息的行动方式，即采用秘密行动的策略。

And DESE went along, adding employees to the review team who were concerned about the school's racial climate, then deliberately delaying the review for months to allow parents to submit official complaints.

DESE赞同此方式，将担心学校种族氛围的员工加入到审查小组，然后故意将审查推迟数月，以便家长提交正式的投诉。

When none materialized, the department created informal focus groups that they packed with the same complaining activists, then incorporated the groups' feedback into its report, the documents show.

文件显示，当这些都没有实现时，该部门成立了非正式的焦点小组，由相同的抱怨活动人士组成，然后将这些小组的反馈纳入报告。

In another email, Stroud praised the activists for their work to "help expose Mystic Valley.”

斯特劳德在另一封电子邮件中赞扬了这些活动人士“帮助揭露神秘谷”的举动。

(DESE declined to comment, citing the school's pending lawsuit.

(DESE以学校未决诉讼为由拒绝置评。

The state attorney general's office is also reviewing complaints of alleged racial discrimination at Mystic Valley, according to a spokeswoman.)

据一名发言人表示，州检察长办公室也在审查有关神秘谷涉嫌种族歧视的投诉。）

Other parents at the school, many of them working-class people of color who see it as their child's best chance at success, are disturbed by the conflict.

这所学校的其他家长，其中许多是工人阶级的有色人种，他们认为该校是他们孩子成功的最好机会，并对这场冲突感到不安。

Many are terrified Mystic Valley will be forced to close.

许多人担心神秘谷将被迫关闭。

"We have always been evaluated with flying colors,” says Alex Dan, the school's director, a former English teacher and swimming coach.

“我们一直受到好评，”该校校长、前英语教师和游泳教练亚历克斯·丹 (Alex Dan) 说。

But now, "there's this vague mandate to follow a new approach that we feel is the opposite of what's made us so successful as a school and wonderful as a country.”

但现在，“有一项模糊的任务，要求我们采取一种新的方法，但我们觉得，这种方法与我们的学校如此成功、国家如此美好的原因恰恰相反。”