EDITORIAL : LAUSD'S CANCEROUS CULTURE; THE LYING MUST STOP AND THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BELMONT DEBACLE MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.

LAUSD'S cancerous culture of lying and coverup in the Belmont Learning Center scandal was exposed Tuesday in all its self-serving, shameful ugliness.

Children's lives could have been endangered, millions of dollars were wasted, and many at LAUSD didn't gave a damn.

A frank and devastating evaluation of LAUSD's top administrators and executives confirms what the Daily News has been reporting for a long, long time - that district leaders and others practiced a litany of ``denying responsibility, deflecting criticism and defending poorly planned and executed actions with regard to Belmont.''

A Daily News investigation revealed earlier that methane gas, which can collect under buildings and explode, is pervasive at the $200 million downtown project at Temple Street and Beaudry Avenue and environmental and other safeguards were compromised.

Don Mullinax, the district's director of the Internal Audit and Special Investigations Unit, and his team of investigators did a remarkable job to penetrate the boob bunker.

Mullinax makes it clear the district's misdeeds regarding the nation's most disgraceful and expensive educational scandal go beyond bungling.

Laws were violated, the report asserts.

Criminal and civil litigation should be pursued, Mullinax recommends.

In addition, the report recommends discipline for nine current district officials, up to and including termination, and says five former officials, including retired Superintendent Sid Thompson, would have deserved similar discipline if they were still on staff.

Superintendent Ruben Zacarias has nowhere to hide now.

He is among those who ``personally failed to exercise proper management, supervision and/or professional execution of their assigned responsibilities to conduct the Belmont project in a professional, diligent, and lawful manner . . .,'' according to district investigators.

Granted, the culture of lying did not begin with Zacarias. He has simply thrived in it for more than 30 years and does himself no service by disputing the report's finding that he failed to fulfill his fundamental duties as superintendent.

Armed with a 200-page, $1.2 million report - the equivalent of a tank-mounted battering ram busting down the door of unresponsiveness - the public will be able to assess the massive amount of evidence of incompetence, deceit and coverup.

We believe that any reasonable person who reads the Mullinax report will conclude that the management of the nation's second largest school district needs a thorough housecleaning. (The entire report can be read by going to the Daily News' Internet site: dailynews.com.)

We also believe the public will share our concern that there was something more sinister afoot which only District Attorney Gil Garcetti can uncover.

How could so many well-educated and intelligent people make so many costly mistakes?

Are we to believe that they were all simply incompetent and morally bankrupt?

Mullinax said the investigation unearthed ``probable cause'' that past school boards violated laws, and emphasized that ``senior and professional'' staff misled the board so their decisions were based on incomplete or misleading information.

Again, a prudent person has to wonder why highly paid administrators and district counsel would jeopardize their careers and disregard the dire needs of 700,000 children who need a good education to stand a chance in life.

The culture of lying that has festered in the top ranks of the LAUSD for at least two decades must be destroyed once and for all.

The time has come to rid this $7 billion-a-year enterprise of this terrible cancer so that another generation is not robbed of its birthright.

It is Zacarias' job to purge his administration of those who are guilty of wrongdoing and to seriously discipline all those who knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it.