PLATTSBURGH – Andrew C. Kirkpatrick has seen YouTube videos and online articles on how to generate passive income.
“The different suggestions were to invest money in the stock market or get a second job,” he said.
“I did the second job. I already had two or three jobs. Make YouTube videos. I said, no thank you. Then they said to write a book. I’m like, what do I know? After thinking, I’m like oh yeah, I’m a support staff member. I wonder if anyone has written a children’s book introducing children to support staff.
Kirkpatrick is now a teaching assistant, but occasionally replaces him as a teaching assistant.
After searching on Google, Amazon and YouTube, he found nothing.
“It’s all about parents, teachers, students, administrators, the community,” he said.
“Little or nothing is about support staff.”
Kirkpatrick typed his manuscript in a day or two.
“It didn’t take me very long,” he said.
“I’m looking online to publish because I don’t know anything about it. I came across Palmetto Publishing. I contacted them at the end of September last year, they’re a great company to work with , great people. It took a few months, but we published the book and the rest is history.
“Your School’s Support Staff,” illustrated by Blake Marsee, has no plot.
“It’s not a storybook,” he said.
“It’s just an information and instruction book. On the text page, it will say teacher’s aide. Then below that is a little paragraph and will tell you what they do. On the next page, there will be an illustration of a teacher’s aide working with a student.
The sections of the book are as follows: Introduction, Bus Drivers and Monitors, Cafeteria Staff, Cleaners and Janitors, Homeschool Coordinators, Mechanic, Office Staff, Teacher’s Assistants and Teaching Assistants.
“A teacher’s aide works one-on-one with one, sometimes two children,” he said.
“A teacher’s aide is not a teacher. They are just there to provide support to keep the kids on task, to help them with certain things. A teaching assistant is a licensed professional. You have to take a few workshops. You have to do some tests.
“So there is a real certificate. Not as involved as a teaching certificate though. Teaching Assistants can provide instruction under the direction of a certified teacher or we can fill in as substitutes when needed.
Kirkpatrick’s target audience is elementary school students, kindergarten through fifth grade.
“The basic idea is that if the parents read this book to tell their children or maybe the children can read it to their parents, it’s something for the children and the parents learn the basics of the staff support who works at school, works with their children or around their children.
The book can be purchased online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
“I read a book at Malone’s Wead Library on August 2,” he said.
“I did another reading at the Potsdam Public Library on August 4th. On the Potsdam Public Library YouTube channel they recorded me reading the book. So if people are interested in that .
PAST
Born in Malone, he grew up in Brushton-Moira, a little Malone.
He graduated in the class of 2000 from Brushton-Moira Central and attended the North Franklin Educational Center in Malone for two years for culinary arts.
“I went to Paul Smith for two years for cooking, and then I kind of gave up after that,” he said.
“Stress and epilepsy don’t mix.”
Kirkpatrick attended SUNY Potsdam and earned a bachelor’s degree in history and stayed an additional year and earned a bachelor’s degree in art history.
“Well, I thought about being a teacher, but then, like no,” he said.
“Then I went to American Intercontinental University online and got a master’s degree in education. I’m not certified and have no desire to be a K-12 teacher. Too much technology. This is not like before.”
Kirkpatrick graduated with a master’s degree in 2008 and thought he would hit the ground running.
“Then the economy collapsed,” he said.
“Great timing on my part. I don’t drive because of my vision so it limits me. I was living with mom in Brushton. Five and a half years out of work, a few dead end jobs here and there, I finally said, I’ll give it a try. Took the transit bus and started replacing Malone Central in the spring of 2013. Then my fiancé and I moved to Malone in 2013.”
Kirkpatrick was working at K-Mart, when one of the teachers he replaced told him about full-time positions for individual aides.
“That’s what I did,” he said.
“I worked one-on-one from 2013 to 2016. Then from 2016 to May 2019 I was a teaching assistant. From May to August I was an accountant at BOCES. Then I again served as a teacher’s aide for Malone until February 2021.
“Now I’m a teacher’s aide again. I’ll try to stick to it this time.
