Allegations that a former Putnam Valley Middle School teacher drugged and raped a 12-year-old girl in his classroom were handled improperly by school officials, police and prosecutors, according to the New York State Commission of Investigation.

In a report made public today, the commission says the teacher, who is not named in the report but court documents identify as Dennis Tave, had been reported to school authorities on at least two occasions prior to the 2001 incident by young female students who said he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior and commentary.

The handling of this case was completely unacceptable, and, as a result, we may never know what occurred in the classroom that day,” said Commission Chairman Alfred D. Lerner. “There are established protocols for how cases like this are supposed to be handled, and they were not followed in this instance. The (commission) has made strong recommendations in its report to help ensure that this never happens again.”

Former Gov. George Pataki asked the commission to study the case in response to a complaint from the girl’s father.

The commission’s findings are the latest in an ongoing series of news relating to the case.

After private hearings and numerous interviews with witnesses, including the alleged victim, her parents, her attorney, and members of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, the Putnam County District Attorney’s Office, and the school district, the commission found that:

• The Sheriff’s Department investigator who took charge of the case should have referred the case to the Department’s designated sex crimes investigator

• The same investigator failed to conduct a proper investigation and ultimately abdicated his responsibility to investigate the case

• The District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department failed to refer the alleged victim to the Putnam County Child Advocacy Center as required by a local inter-agency agreement

• The assistant district attorney assigned to the case failed to take steps to aggressively pursue the investigation, despite her awareness that the Sheriff’s Department investigator had failed to conduct an adequate investigation

• The assistant district attorney gave the alleged victim and her father an appropriate but insufficient explanation as to how the statutes of limitation might affect her ability to prosecute the case

• A private meeting between the school principal and the teacher alleged to have assaulted the female student was inappropriate and constituted a serious conflict of interest

• The principal made inappropriate comments to the school staff about how to treat the teacher and the female student

• The principal failed to respond appropriately to other female students’ allegations that the teacher had made inappropriate sexual comments and had acted in other inappropriate ways with them

• The principal was not completely candid in his testimony before the Commission

• Another teacher inappropriately attempted to gain access to the alleged victim’s confidential student file.