Belleville 2023 School Board Candidate Profiles: Lissa Missaggia

BELLEVILLE, NJ — A seasoned educator with decades of classroom teaching experience is running for the Belleville Board of Education in the 2023 general election.

There are seven candidates running for two open seats on the board: Nelson Barrera, Lissa Missaggia, Kenia Nicole Arroyuabe, Erika Jacho, Esteban Leon, Brenda Pacheco and Michael Sheldon. Another candidate, Ruben Rodriguez, filed to run in August, but has since dropped out of the race.

School board members are non-partisan and unpaid. Learn more about voting in Essex County and see key election dates here. Learn more about voting in New Jersey here. See sample ballots for Belleville and Nutley here.

In an effort to learn more about each candidate, Patch reached out to them via email with the same three questions. We will share any replies we receive in future articles (sign up for Patch Belleville-Nutley news alerts here).

Here is the reply we received from Lissa Missaggia, who is running under the slogan, "Teachers for Belleville."

PATCH: What are your qualifications to serve on the Belleville Board of Education?

MISSAGGIA: My qualifications include three college degrees, 37 years of classroom teaching experience (from grades 2 through college), four educational certificates (including teacher, supervisor and principal), and board of education experience - having served as a trustee in another district before moving to Belleville. I am a homeowner, taxpayer and registered voter, and my son attends Belleville Middle School.

PATCH: What are the biggest issues/problems the district is facing, or will face in the future? What are your plans to address these problems if elected?

MISSAGGIA: The biggest issues facing the district are always how to improve the education for such a diverse population that continues to struggle with transience, meeting the challenges of our special needs children and to find the room and resources as our buildings are bursting at the seams, but the community will continue to grow. Reducing class sizes is a must in order to lower the teacher to student ratio and be able to provide more individual attention and instruction. Increased funding to provide more building space and a more aggressive system of registration and residency checks to insure that our schools are not being overcrowded by children from other towns.

PATCH: Tell us something about the Belleville public school system that always makes you smile.

MISSAGGIA: The Belleville Public School System fosters creativity and encourages learning not only beyond the school day, but beyond the child's imagination and potential. I see this from month to month when children are presented with awards at the school board meetings for going above and beyond in a STEM competition or poetry contest, a summer reading program or an essay of "What America Means to Me." The joy on their faces as they are called to receive their certificates in the high school auditorium speaks volumes about why I chose to be an educator and am seeking to become a trustee."

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