Making room to grow: Lindsey Distel leads Lincoln Pre-K

Leading TCS

At Lincoln Pre-K, Lindsey Distel brings a teacher’s experience and a parent’s perspective to helping children grow.

Top photo: Lindsey Distel, Tiffin City Schools’ Director of Early Learning, joins Lincoln Pre-K students at a sensory bin.

TIFFIN, Ohio – Garrett and Pam Krause remember the mat.

Their daughter Blair, who is autistic and nonverbal, had become attached to the old mat near the classroom door at Lincoln Pre-K. It was her comfort zone, the place she wanted to stay even when the other children gathered for story time.

Her teacher, Lindsey Distel, moved the mat to story time. Pam remembers her taking it home to wash it, too. What had been Blair’s spot by the door became her place with her classmates.

Lindsey Distel, Director of Early Learning

For Garrett and Pam, those memories are tied to a time when they were unsure what school would look like for their daughter. They were still learning what her diagnosis would mean, and they remember how quickly Distel made them feel comfortable.

“We were new parents with a new diagnosis for our kid,” Pam said. She remembers a teacher who focused on Blair’s strengths and kept thinking about ways to help her participate. Looking back, Pam describes what Distel did for her daughter as life-changing.

Garrett remembers other children helping Blair during activities and how much it meant to see her learning alongside them. Lincoln’s integrated preschool classrooms, where children with and without special needs learn together, gave her that opportunity.

Today, Blair is in second grade and her younger sister, Meredith, attends Lincoln. Distel now serves as Tiffin City Schools’ Director of Early Learning, leading the school where the Krauses first knew her as their daughter’s teacher.

“Independence can look very different for each child.”

Lindsey Distel

A classroom of her own

Long before she had students of her own, Distel spent time in her mother’s classroom at Noble. She was a student there, too, with time before and after school to play in the room where her mother taught special education. She planned activities, pretending she had a classroom of her own, already picturing herself as a teacher.

Distel with her parents.

Her father also worked with adults who had disabilities, providing support and guidance while developing and coordinating daily engagement activities for them. Her parents taught her to be independent, stay open to new ideas and try different things, lessons she would carry into her own classroom.

After graduating from Columbian High School in 2000, Distel studied early childhood education at Bowling Green State University. Her first teaching position, in a preschool special education classroom, prompted her to return to school for a master’s degree in special education at the University of Toledo. She taught in Fremont before returning to Tiffin, first in elementary special education and later at Lincoln. When the opportunity to lead the preschool came along, she pursued her administrative license through the University of Findlay.

Distel talks about the children who learn to manage a classroom transition on their own or finally understand an activity they have been working on. She watches for the moment they recognize their own progress. Seeing that confidence grow is one of the things she finds most rewarding about the work.

“You just see so much growth and progress in these young learners,” she said.

The room to try

Lincoln secretary Sarah Brill has learned a great deal from watching Distel with children. Her own instinct is often to help. Distel has helped her recognize when to give a child more time and the chance to try a task independently.

Distel is also the person with a plan, a backup plan and a spreadsheet. Brill appreciates the organization and attention to detail. Distel describes herself as punctual, eager to learn and willing to try a different approach when she thinks it could work better.

“She does expect a lot out of everybody, but she’s very supportive,” Brill said.

Brill also sees someone who remembers what it was like to be a classroom teacher. Distel considers how decisions will affect the people doing that work and goes into classrooms herself when they need support.

“I couldn’t have been more lucky to have landed with her,” Brill said.

Distel and her family on a fall outing to Cedar Point.

Distel greets children with high-fives and fist bumps and welcomes them as they arrive at school. She also joins classroom activities, spending time with students as they play and learn.

“Getting in and interacting with them is very important to me,” Distel said. She wants children to feel glad to be at school and proud of what they are learning to do.

Outside school, her two sons keep the family busy with sports and other activities. An open weekend day often becomes an outing to Cedar Point, a chance to go fishing or a visit to a new restaurant.

Being a mother also shapes how she works with families. She considers what she would want to know about her own children and how she would want a teacher or administrator to handle a concern.

“I want to advocate along with the parents,” she said.

The same Lindsey

At Distel’s invitation, the Krauses joined a committee with Lincoln staff to discuss what is working and what could improve. In a recent meeting, Garrett said, much of the conversation focused on making school events more accessible to families and engaging for children with different needs.

Garrett has watched the preparation he admired in Distel’s classroom carry into those meetings. Pam appreciates being asked to help shape the school.

Garrett Krause and his daughter Meredith with Distel at Lincoln.

Pam Krause and Blair, left, with Distel and Meredith.

Their involvement began while Distel was teaching. Garrett brought a book from home to read to the class and remembers how curious the children were about their visitor and how eager they were to hear the story.

“I really enjoyed doing that and getting to read to the kids,” he said.

The Krauses also see Distel during pickup, helping the routine run smoothly. They feel comfortable bringing her a question or concern, and their conversations still include Blair.

Their older daughter has moved on from preschool, but they still send Distel pictures of her. They want to share how Blair is growing with the teacher who helped them feel comfortable at the beginning.

“I believe she’s like that with every kid,” Garrett said.

For the Krauses, she is still the teacher who understood how much the mat meant to Blair and found a way for her to join the other children.

“You get the same Lindsey every time,” Pam said. ■