After more than 40 years as an educator, Hickory Creek Elementary principal Donald Prater has announced his retirement at the end of the school year.“I’ll miss the joy of being around the kids and being around the teachers,” said Prater. “And I’ll miss putting time into a program and seeing it turn out to be a success like the work we did with our TCAP testing last year.”Prater doesn’t plan to prop up his feet in retirement as he says he wants to do more farm work and church work. But enjoying his grandchildren and traveling are also included in his plans.Prater got his start at Irving College School as an elementary school teacher.