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AURORA| Aurora Public Schools board member Cathy Wildman pushed back Tuesday night against accusations that she had previously made racist comments as the school boardconsidered a measure created to aid some illegal immigrants and their families.

Claiming that immigrants make parts of America unsafe is a dangerous narrative that fuels hate, racial hierarchy and supremacy, Kristen Pough told school board members Tuesday night during the boards regular meeting. Pough is a 2012 Aurora Central High Schoolgraduate and now a political activist and member of the NAACP in Aurora. She and two current APS students told the school board that Wildman was out of line.

On May 16, the school board approved aresolution directing the school district to make plans to push back against federal immigration requests for information about the citizenship status of students or their families. The measure also calls for plans to be prepared for students whose families may be arrested by immigration police.

The measure passed, with Wildman voting for the resolution.

As board members commented on the policybefore voting, Wildman discussedher ambivalence over the measure because she said itaccommodated rule breakers, referring to illegal immigrants. She later talked about familymembers in Arizona who were warned off traveling to border communities because of safety issues created by tension over illegal immigration.

Aletter to the editor written last week to the Aurora Sentinel by a local political activist seized on the comments, criticizing Wildman for being racist and demeaning to illegal immigrants and all immigrants.

Tuesday, Wildman told the audience that her comments were misconstrued. During an at-times emotional speech, she did not apologize but said that she has always been fastidious about following rules and insisting others do, too.

I think it really was political and preparing for the next election, Wildman said after the meeting. My concern is Im being misinterpreted. I taught school for 40 years and never been accused of racism or the other words that were used.

Pough said she works withYoung Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism, and its director wasapproached by members of a Denver-based group called A-Plus Colorado, which advocates for education reform and school choice and charter schools. The group has issued critical audits of APSs performance.

Wildman, a career teacher, also highlightedthe Sentinel letter written by Republican Party strategist Tyler Sandberg, which pointed out her support of the Aurora teachers union and asking union members to call out Wildmans comments.She also called outan A-Plus Colorado blog post from May 19 critical of her comments and a portent toa political attack in preparation for the board elections this fall. Wildmans term, however, is up in 2019.

Liz Reetz , A-Plus Coloradosdistrict advocacy director, authored the blog post for the group. Reetz said characterizing her response to Wildmans comments as political was a way to distract from Wildmans lack of an apology.She reached out to other community groups to inform them of the chance to speak against Wildman so the APS board would know this issues wasnt going to be forgotten by the community.

Shes pitting us against the teachers union and saying its politically motivated to distract from her comments, Reetz said. Are we thinking about if Cathy Wildmanis serving kids well with thatattitude? Absolutely. ButI think itsa little bit ofa stretch to say its politically motivated.

Pouch and Reetzsaid the comments were offensive and the parts of the letter read to the audience showed that Wildman didnt understand the problems with her comments on May 16.

With a district that has a growing population of immigrants, especially immigrants attending innovation schools, that APS wants to fix, there is no room for disparaging and privileged comments, Poughtold the board.

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APS board member: Allegations she made racist remarks about illegal immigration policy are politically motivated - Aurora Sentinel