Parents and caregivers see the same faces day after day as they shuttle their children to school and school-related events. While they may recognize them as educators or support staff, how well do they know the people themselves?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel plans to run short features to help readers better connect with the folks who are working with their kids on a daily basis. In our inaugural Hallway Voices feature, meet school psychologist Adalyn Feilbach, who works at Eisenhower and Washington elementary schools in the Wauwatosa School District.
What is your favorite part about your job and why?
I think I would say just seeing students make small successes. A lot of the times the students that I work with either have some learning challenges or behavioral challenges. So when there’s just a small little increase of skills or success, it’s a big deal, whether a student increases the words per minute they can read or a student follows their calm-down plan without becoming dysregulated to the point of destroying a classroom or hurting their peers or something like that. So just the little successes that you can see from students when they learn a skill.
What’s a surprising thing people may not know about your job?
I guess just that it’s different every day. I don’t go in and know this is what my day is going to look like. One day might be observing a student, another day might be helping write a behavior plan. Another day it might be supporting a student in crisis. Another day it might be calling a parent about their concerns, or leading an evaluation meeting. So I think just that we wear all the hats, and every day is just very different.
What kind of things do you like to do outside of work?
I love to read. So [in 2025], I told myself to read 50 books, which is about a book a week. (Feilbach said she reached her goal.)
I also love to travel with my husband, Colin. Our next destination is Iceland next summer.
Then I also love trying new restaurants, like, anything Italian. I could eat pasta for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
What was your favorite place to visit?
Honestly, like most national parks, but my husband and I went to Glacier National Park in Montana a couple years ago, and that was just absolutely gorgeous. We love hiking and lakes and mountains. So that’s probably my favorite national park that I’ve been to.
Has there been any new restaurant you’ve tried recently that you’re like ‘I have to go back there again’?
We love Ca’Lucchenzo in Wauwatosa. It’s an Italian restaurant and they do homemade pasta, so that place is really good. Also Tenuta’s in Bay View, that’s also an Italian one, and that was really good.
Hallway Voices is a weekly column during the school year where public school staff answer five questions about their work and life. Contact Alec Johnson at 262-875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com to nominate an educator, staff member or volunteer you think we should feature.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet Wauwatosa school psychologist Adalyn Feilbach in new Hallway Voices feature
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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