And so 2013 draws to a close:

September

Lt. Detective Mike Stewart was named as the new chief of the Scituate Police Department. A Scituate native and graduate of Scituate High School, Stewart has served the Town of Scituate for more than 30 years. He began his career in law enforcement as a patrolman in 1983. The new chief comes from a long line of public servants. His late father was Scituates fire chief. His great grandfather was a police chief back in the 1930s. His sister is a captain with the State Police. There are nurses and teachers in the family as well. The previous Scituate Police Chief, Brian Stewart, who stepped down over the summer, is Stewarts uncle. Stewart earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Criminal Justice at Western New England College, and served as a member of the FBI-led Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force. He has also worked closely with the Scituate School Department.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has approved the Boston-based company, Daedalus, as the Owners Project Manager (OPM) for the Gates Intermediate School project. The company will oversee the feasibility study and schematic design phase of the project.

Scituate Council on Aging Director Florence Choate announced she would be retiring in December. Pointing out that she is a senior herself, Choate said she plans to spend more time with her family. She said she would miss the seniors the most, and that she has met so many wonderful people through her position.

Phillips Candy House matriarch Ann Sammartino celebrates her 100th birthday and remembers her sweet life.

The Town of Scituate will be filing an appeal with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) questioning the assumptions made in the calculations of the new Flood Insurance Rate Maps. The town has engaged a consultant to analyze the maps. Officials said they felt FEMA got some of the data wrong.

The Scituate Families, Adolescents and Communities Together Against Substances (FACTS) Coalition has been selected to receive funding from a federal grant to continue its efforts to involve and engage the community in measures to prevent substance abuse among young people.

October

Assistant School Superintendent Jill Proulx announced that the Scituate School District is outperforming the state in all subject ELA (English Language Arts), Math and Science - on MCAS. The results were from 2012-2013 MCAS testing. Proulx said that 86 percent of Scituate students are scoring proficient/advanced in ELA, 82 percent are scoring proficient/advanced in Math, and 71 percent are scoring proficient/advanced in Science. She also gave a summary of performance for the individual schools.

Continue reading here:
Scituate Year in Review: Month by Month - Sept through Dec