Teachers With Conviction

Actually, let's call it teachers with convictions. But hey, they do it for the children or something.

They've killed, looted taxpayer funds and committed other heinous crimes -- but the city can't keep these criminals out of the classroom.

More than 500 teachers convicted of crimes in the last five years -- from drunken driving to assault to manslaughter -- are still skulking around the schools because the Department of Education is hamstrung from getting rid of them.

Only those with sex-related convictions can be given the boot immediately -- but the rest of the rogues' gallery gets to continue teaching throughout the arduous process of disciplinary hearings, according to records obtained by The Post.

Among the most vile is Staten Island elementary-school teacher Kim DePrima, who was entrusted with the care of her special-education students even after a conviction for failing to keep her pit bulls from mauling to death a 90-year-old neighbor in August 2008.

Prosecutors said neighbors warned her and her boyfriend that their dogs, Popeye and Brutus, needed better restraints after they had broken free and run amok.

DePrima hardly learned her lesson and was arrested again in January, when the ex-con she was with shot up the home of one of her ex-boyfriends. An unspent 9mm round was found in her car.

She's been temporarily sidelined -- but allowed to keep her paychecks -- and will return to the classroom if acquitted.

But the first manslaughter rap should have been the final straw for DePrima, outraged officials said.

"Why would you allow a convicted felon to teach impressionable young children? What kind of message does that send to them, let alone their parents and the taxpayers of this city?" asked Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

"It just seems to fly in the face of common sense."

Indeed, it does. But they have union protection, so let's all just shut up.

Read the whole thing. This is just scratching the surface.