City Council Appoints Prater To School Board

By Amber Lester Kennedy Friday, December 17, 2010

The Williamsburg City Council has appointed Oscar Prater to take a seat on the WJCC School Board, replacing longtime member John Alewynse.

Council voted unanimously to appoint Prater, a career educator, in a Friday morning meeting. Prater, 71, will replace Alewynse, 74, who decided not to reapply for appointment in November. Alewynse, who has served on the board for nearly a decade, will complete his term on Dec. 31.

Prater began his career in Williamsburg in 1962, when he taught math and physics at Bruton Heights High School. While in Williamsburg, he earned a master’s degree in physics and a doctorate in higher education administration from the College of William and Mary.

He went on to work in higher education for much of his career, serving as a vice president for administration at Hampton University, then as president of Fort Valley State University, a historically black university in Georgia, and as president of his undergraduate alma mater, Talladega College, located in Alabama. He is still involved in higher education, serving as an assistant to Hampton University President William Harvey and as an adjunct professor of saxophone.

He is active in the community as a member of the Williamsburg Rotary Club and as a trustee at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg. He and his wife, Brenda, have three children.

Several people advocated strongly for Prater’s appointment at the City Council’s last meeting on Dec. 9. His supporters emphasized his lifelong work in education, his research and scholarly work and the need to have an African-American member on the board. Resident Hubert Alexander told the board, “If the city is serious about closing the gap between minority students and white students, Oscar Prater is uniquely qualified to help.”

Prater was one of three applicants for the School Board; the other two applicants were Kyra Cook, coordinator for the Historic Triangle Collaborative, and Pamela Arnold, a retired executive who teaches English Composition at Thomas Nelson Community College. At Friday’s meeting, Mayor Clyde Haulman said the city was fortunate to have such qualified candidates, noting, “We couldn’t go wrong with any of them.”

“Dr. Prater brings a wealth of experience and a big picture perspective that is important,” Haulman said. “I think as education moves forward, linkages between K-12 education and colleges will play a larger role and he has the background to inform that collaboration.”