Remember the Aurora Public Schools board member who raised eyebrows last month with her remarks about immigrants – of which there are many in the school district and surrounding city? The member, Cathy Wildman, followed up this week with an explanation of sorts.

Chalkbeat Colorado’s Yesenia Robles reports that at a board meeting Tuesday, Wildman, “offered a lengthy, emotional response that emphasized the importance of following rules and included an assurance that she wants students to feel safe.”

Yet, Robles also notes Wildman seemed to stop short of an apology; some members of the public who were on hand expressed disappointment.

What were Wildman’s offending words? During last month’s debate of a board resolution expressing support for immigrant students and their families – amid the Trump administration’s attempts at an immigration crackdown – Wildman expressed concerns about providing what she seemed to think is special dispensation for immigrant households. As Robles reported at the time:

… Wildman said Aurora already has enough policies creating safe schools by prohibiting discrimination. She said the resolution was about one group of students, and not really for all students.

“I guess I feel that we are setting aside, or creating additional rules and policies in some ways where people broke the rules,” Wildman said.

She added that some immigrants have made some areas of the country unsafe and said in one instance her nieces traveling to southern California were told to turn around because it would not be safe for them.

Wildman actually had wound up voting for the resolution, but her qualified support – and her observations about immigrants as rule breakers earned her few friends that night. And then there was that tangent about parts of the country she felt were rendered unsafe  by immigrants. At least one education-advocacy group called on her to resign.

Wildman’s follow-up this week, from Robles’s latest account:

“I’m a rule follower,” Wildman said Tuesday. “I obey the rules and the laws. This morning I noticed how many rules I followed as I went to the gym. We have rules for a reason.”

Wildman, a former teacher, said her goal “is that all students feel safe and included. … When I go back to the meeting in question, I wanted people to recognize that we have policies in place. In no way did I ever say immigrants are not welcome.”

That didn’t do much for at least one district resident in attendance:

After listening to Wildman’s response, (Kristen) Pough said she didn’t believe there was an apology.

“I just didn’t feel that was a sincere response,” Pough said. “I just saw her say, ‘I’m a great citizen because I do x, y and z,’ and not really apologizing.”