Jim Baker: Family man puts kids first

With a charming smile and casual shrug of his shoulders, Lewes resident Jim Baker graciously deflects much of the credit, but because of him – at least in part – generations of school-aged kids from the Cape Region may lead happier and well-rounded lives.

Baker, 37, is a structural engineer who has worked on the Cape Henlopen School District’s Beacon and Mariner middle schools projects, and the district’s new elementary school being built on Route 24. He’s six months into a tenure as Lewes Little League president, is an Odyssey of the Mind coach and a Boy Scout troop leader.

“It can be crazy at times, but that’s all right,” he said with a thank-goodness-for-coffee laugh.

Baker, who grew up in Milton and graduated from Cape Henlopen High School, said his parents gave back to the community, so, he said, he doesn’t see it as a big deal – it’s what’s supposed to be done.

It’s about supporting the local kids, schools and the education system, he said.

“It’s hard enough to get employers and employees to move to a new location,” he said. “No business wants to support a poor educational system.”

In addition to being a good enough student to get into Villanova, Baker played soccer, baseball and lacrosse at Cape. He can still recall the excitement of watching fellow Little Leaguer, and still Milton resident, Juan Saez smack a dozen home runs at the Milton Little League park.

“Nothing says America like Little League baseball,” said Baker, recalling the fond memories.

Facing the Rehoboth-Lewes Canal and the Lewes Life-Saving Station, Baker could only smile when asked if there was a better location for a few baseball and softball fields.

“It’s a blessing to be at this location,” Baker said on a recent sunny morning, while sitting at a picnic table behind home plate. “The whole community rallies behind this organization.”

Baker didn’t begin the league’s capital campaign to renovate the facilities, but he’ll be the one seeing it through. By the time the project is complete, there will be a new snack shack, new lighting and new dugouts for the main field.

The old shack served its purpose, but it was becoming unsafe, he said. When completed, there will be bathrooms on both sides of the building, including one that’s handicap accessible, and the second floor will provide much better accommodations. The building will blend in with the area’s surrounding theme, he said, pointing to the life-saving station and Canalfront Park.

As a structural engineer, Baker can easily visualize what the snack shack will look like when it’s completed. He said the first floor renovations will be nice, but the second floor will see the biggest improvements. He described a ceiling height that can accommodate adults and storage for league equipment – necessary because of how wet the grounds can be.

He said the new snack shack is an example of the community giving back. All the work will be done by weekend warriors and contractors donating their time, he said.

Opening day for Lewes Little League is Saturday, April 16, starting with the annual parade through town, followed by ceremonies at the field.

“It’s exciting to have all 317 kids on the field at once,” he said, clearly wishing he could turn back the clock and be one of them. “Not many youth rec leagues begin their season with a parade through town.”

Little League brings an interesting group of 4 to 12 year olds together and, said Baker, league officials try the best they can to make every kid’s experience positive. He said in the older group, ages 9 to 12, there are some kids who play year-round and some kids who have never played before.

“Hopefully, by the time they’re done playing, everyone has learned a thing or two about baseball,” he said, “but, it’s really learning about teamwork and how to handle winning and losing.”

Baker said the league and its coaches know here in the Cape Region there are many opportunities for students, and they encourage the ballplayers to take advantage of them.

“We encourage the kids to do other activities,” he said. “It’s nice to see well-rounded kids in the area.”

Well-roundedness is why Baker also helps in Boy Scouts and Odyssey of the Mind. He said he participated in Scouts until he was 13 or 14 years old, and he likes that his son and daughter are participating also.

He said his son’s Odyssey of the Mind team will participate in the statewide competition Saturday, April 9, and the goal is to advance to the world competition, which happened last year.

Baker said he participated in Odyssey as a kid, but he wasn’t as involved as his son and his classmates are. Six kids have been meeting for two-and-a-half hours a week since October, he said. Baker and the two other coaches aren’t actually allowed to coach the kids – they’re basically chauffeurs who make sure the kids get to practice on time.

“They’re given a problem and they have to figure it out,” he said. “We’re not allowed to help them in any way, and sometimes the way they solve the problem is much different than how we were thinking, but it works better. It’s truly amazing.”

Throughout his engineering career, Baker has helped design numerous residential and healthcare facilities, but, he said, he always finds the educational buildings the most rewarding. He said he thinks it has something to do with knowing his wife works as a school psychologist in the area and his kids are both at Shields Elementary.

For the most part, Baker’s involvement with the new elementary school on Route 24 is over – it’s now in the hands of the construction manager – but he said it’s exciting to see dirt being moved for the foundation and infrastructure work.

Not surprisingly, Baker is 100 percent in favor of the referendum that Cape is asking voters to pass tomorrow, and it’s believable when he says it’s not because his company will submit a bid to help with those building designs too.

Baker’s dad is former Sussex County Administrator David Baker. That, said Baker, means he grew up in a household where cost efficiencies were always evaluated. He said he believes in minimizing the tax burden on property owners, but the district also needs to have a strong educational system.

“This is becoming a retirement community, but it also needs to be a place for people to work, and those people are going to want good schools for their kids,” he said.

Baker said he hadn’t given much thought about returning to the area he grew up in and raising a family – it kind of just worked out that way. He said it was his wife’s decision to move back to the Cape Region after finishing at Villanova.

She’s from Long Island, N.Y., he explained, and when school was done, the couple was looking from Providence, R.I., to the Carolinas for a place to settle.

“This place just suited us. My wife loves it here,” he said. “I’m certainly happy that it happened this way.”