"Dr. Ackerman did so illegally, on the basis of race, in blatant violation of several civil rights statutes," Goldberg said. "Further fallout from Dr. Ackerman's actions included the firing of two high level School District officials, Francis X. Dougherty, the former Deputy Chief of Operations, and John L. Byars, the former Director of Procurement Services. . . . Not surprisingly, numerous lawsuits followed. The School District's response was to adopt an overly aggressive litigation strategy . . .Electing to stridently defend Dr. Ackerman's illegal conduct and the events stemming from that conduct has turned out to be a costly decision for the School District."