The confrontation got so ugly that cops were called to the school.
It happened at a school board meeting in Spring Valley.
This was no tedious talk about school budgets.
"He's smirking at me, for Christ sake," said Peggy Hatton, a mother.
Instead, a lawyer's perceived smirk at the mother of a special needs student, very nearly escalated to an all out school yard brawl between adults.
"Shut up you fat *expletive*" the lawyer said.
"I'm a pretty tough chick, I'm 53 years old, but I've never been spoken to that way in my entire life," Hatton said.
If that lawyer seemed a little testy, it might be because Peggy Hatton and Tony Luciano, who was behind the camera, have been a thorn in the district's side for several years.
They have been critical of budget cuts, even as that lawyer was hired from Valley Stream, Long Island.
He was hired at a rate of $250 an hour, plus $125 each way for his ride all the way to Rockland County.
This assistant superintendent, tried to dodge Eyewitness News' questions.
"Does the school board condone this behavior?" Eyewitness News asked.
"The school board will deal with it," the assistant superintendant said.
"It's unconscionable that a professional attorney, a representative of the court, would behave in such a manner," Luciano said.
