Mary Arnold-Frazier, the first Black woman to serve as assistant superintendent for the Camden City School District, has died at 90

Mary Arnold-Frazier, 90, of Philadelphia, retired teacher and innovative school principal, the first Black woman to serve as assistant superintendent and special assistant to the superintendent for the Camden City School District, former adjunct college professor, celebrated mentor, and volunteer, died Saturday, June 8, of age-associated complications at her home.

Dr. Frazier was a popular and effective assistant superintendent in Camden from 1984 to her retirement in 1997, and former colleagues repeatedly praised her leadership skills and innovative initiatives. They said she was central to the district rebounding from the difficulties of the tumultuous 1980s, and she became so indispensable she was rehired as special assistant to the superintendent in 2005.

Current superintendent Katrina T. McCombs said Dr. Frazier “exemplified dedication, excellence, and visionary leadership for over four decades” in a statement and called her a “lesson in success.”

As assistant superintendent, Dr. Frazier was an expert on curriculum development and student instruction, and she created new classes and schedules that better connected students and their studies. The district added computer labs, libraries, and homework centers to schools during her tenure, and she developed programs that improved test scores and graduation rates, and reduced truancy.

She started summer-school and work-study programs. She championed mixed-ability instruction, monitored classroom progress closely, and formed evening and weekend workshops to help parents stay involved.

“It doesn’t matter how exciting our curriculum is if it’s not implemented properly,” she told the Courier-Post newspaper in 1996.

She was definitely hands-on, former colleagues said, and her district support staff became so invested in her projects that they called themselves the Frazier Girls. When she retired in 1997, her office was filled with farewell posters and gifts, and her retirement party for 800 guests at a nearby hotel was sold out.

She created a popular professional development program that resulted in dozens of teachers and staff receiving master’s degrees and other credentials, and she was seriously considered for the superintendent’s job when it opened in 1993. “She was a lifelong learner who believed that the best lessons are demonstrated by example,” her family said in a tribute.

Dr. Frazier started her career at Camden’s Garfield and Northeast Elementary Schools in 1956. She was a reading specialist and staff supervisor, and served later as principal at Forest Hill Elementary School, Broadway Family School, and Cooper B. Hatch Middle School.

“Teaching is an art, not a science,” she told the Courier-Post in 1997. “I’ve always had a love affair with children.”

Former students said Dr. Frazier took a personal interest in them, empowered them, and shared ways to succeed despite obstacles. “She took me under her wings and made me a part of her family,” a former student told the Philadelphia Tribune in 1997.

Dr. Frazier also served on boards, was a member of many organizations, and assumed leadership roles for the New Jersey Department of Education and New Jersey Association of School Administrators. Former Camden High School principal Riletta Cream told the Courier-Post in 1997: “Her name is synonymous with all that has been good.”

She taught classes at Rowan and Rutgers Universities, and Camden County College, and earned awards from the New Jersey Department of Education, Camden City Department of Community Affairs, Camden County Board of Commissioners, Cooper Plaza Neighbors Association, and many other groups.

In 1997, the school district named the auditorium at Hatch Middle School after her. “She instilled pride and confidence in countless numbers of children,” a former student said in a Facebook tribute.

A former school board member said on Facebook: “She didn’t control students and staff. She controlled the total ecosystem under her responsibility. She did it all with class.”

Mary Alice Miller was born Dec. 14, 1933, in Philadelphia. She got straight-A grades at Philadelphia High School for Girls and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at what is now Hampton University in Virginia, a master’s degree in elementary education at Columbia University in New York, and a doctorate in education at the University of Maryland.

She married William Arnold, and they had daughter Wanda and son William. After a divorce, she married Paul Frazier in 1980, and they lived in Philadelphia. Her husband and former husband died earlier.

Away from school, Dr. Frazier was active with the Rock Community Baptist Church in Lansdowne, NAACP, YMCA in South Camden, and many other groups. When someone needed help, friends said, she showed up.

“She was inquisitive, bright, and opinionated,” her daughter said. “She gave her time to everyone.”

In addition to her children, Dr. Frazier is survived by five grandchildren and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

Services were held June 15.

Donations in her name may be made to the Mary Arnold-Frazier Scholarship Fund at Rock Community Baptist Church, 17 Lacrosse Ave., Lansdowne, Pa. 19050.