Introducing Kevin Baker: Next Year’s New Director

This article is a collaboration between Antonette L. and Amanda C.

On February 21, we interviewed Kevin Baker, AISG’s new director beginning with the 2019-20 school year. We asked him a series of questions regarding his professional and personal life, as well as his goals for AISG when he assumes Dr. Carmody’s position. Dr. Carmody, who has been our director for five years, will move on next year to a directorship in the Netherlands at the International School of Amsterdam.

Mr. Baker began his teaching career in Orange Country, California, where he taught for two years. After Orange Country, he went to Hong Kong and taught at HKIS from 1988 to 1997, which was during the period when Hong Kong was still a British colony. Afterward, he returned to the U.S. to teach for several years, after which Seoul Foreign School recruited him as director—he worked there for 11 years.

Currently, Mr. Baker has been working as the Head of School at the International School of Busan in South Korea for five years. He commented that he and his wife are looking for “something new,” and are “very excited to have the opportunity to come to AISG and Guangzhou.” All four of his children are “grown and gone”; two of them are international educators themselves, teaching in Jiaxing, China, and Manila. His other daughter is a full-time graphic designer, and his youngest son is in the Marine Corps.

Mr. Baker’s wife, Dee Baker, is from Nebraska, and he is from California. Being abroad, he says, “there’s always things you miss about your home country, but we don’t really focus on what we’re missing, we look forward to experiencing what we’re going through.” He shares with us a saying that he lives by: “we don’t want to mourn over what we’ve left behind. We want to look forward to where we’re going, and we don’t want to be nervous about it.” Mr. Baker is excited to embark on this journey ahead; he’s been in Asia for over 25 years, but has never lived in China.

Mr. Baker wants to take his first year to learn more about our school and build relationships. He claims that he knows some things about AISG, but also “knows enough to know he doesn’t know everything about the school yet.” He wants to connect with members of our community so he can make good decisions and “hopefully build a strategic future for the school.” The first project that he will be working on is the new Master Facility Plan, the reconstruction of the school: “We’re looking to make the school really innovative and modern so that the building can support the type of teaching that AISG has.”

Mr. Baker states that he will always see himself as a teacher, adding, “there’s no better vocation in the world than being a teacher.” However, he mentions that the impact a teacher has is limited to their classroom: “I was a coach, I was a director, I was a college counselor, and I’ve been a dean. Your impact is marginalized with the scope of your responsibility.” He became a director because he wanted to challenge leadership so that his influence to help improve schools could be broadened. “It’s not about me, it’s about me trying to make sure that our school is the very best place it can be for each student that’s here. We really need to think about each student and if we’re giving the best for them and how we can improve,” Mr. Baker states. He added that looking for ways to improve is “the greatest in a position being the director.” To him, being a director means building a shared vision for the school and making sure the school is aligned with its mission. “We then take the resources, the people and everything else and we’ll bring it together to make an impact. I get to orchestrate that.”

We wanted to find out what made Mr. Baker interested in AISG. “The thing that attracted me to the school is the community,” Mr. Baker stated, “We were looking for a community to join. We wanted a place that had a sense of heart and purpose.” He really liked the fact that the AISG community is mission-driven and makes decisions as a group. His impression of the school was that it’s “a nurturing place, a competitive APAC school with a diverse environment.” He also admires the commitment that so many AISG students make to the IB. He let us know that we should not be surprised to see him around at school: “I’ll be at the buses, I’ll be at activities. You’ll hear me cheering and I look forward to supporting the Rams.” The reason why Mr. Baker planned to visit during this period was to support APAC Band. He’s only looking to improve the reputation of AISG, which he hopes to do through increasing awareness of our school at universities, helping to develop innovative programs, and becoming involved in the recruiting of teachers.

Mr. Baker’s first time in Guangzhou was in 1991 when he was teaching at HKIS. Since then, the city has changed immensely. He’s excited to explore the historical elements of the city and try new Cantonese dishes.

Mr. Baker and his wife have been married for over 30 years. All of his children were born in Hong Kong and were raised abroad as third culture kids. He’s a big fan of sports and the arts. His undergraduate degree was a double major in physical education and speech & drama. Since he likes to watch American college football, he and his family root for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers team. In college, he got a scholarship for soccer and track and field and was all American for one of his field events. Besides sports and the arts, he also enjoys BBQ and cooking.

We really appreciated the chance to get to know Mr. Baker and learn what the future holds for AISG. We were impressed with his professionalism and friendliness as well as his goals for the school. Hopefully, with the addition of Mr. Baker to our community, we can continue to improve and align with our school’s mission. AISG looks forward to welcoming Mr. Baker as the new director starting in August 2019.