What happened to integrity?

Re “LAUSD school food chief quits,” Aug. 4

Whether it’s the former city officials in Bell, people with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, members of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, ex-L.A. Unified School District Supt. John Deasy’s folly with iPads or, most recently, the resignation of the LAUSD food services director under suspicion of “misdeeds,” it seems that too frequently someone in a fiduciary position is found with his or her hand in the public’s cookie jar.

What’s worse, the public is then asked to pay for their misdeeds via taxes, fees, higher utility rates or other payments.

What do all these people have in common? A lack of integrity. I looked it up because I was afraid the word had been removed from the dictionary. But no, it’s still there and is defined as “moral uprightness, honesty” and “decency, honor.”

Apparently, they are no longer teaching it in our underfunded schools because those in charge of school funding diverted the money needed to purchase dictionaries.

Stefani Sherwin

Pacific Palisades