Debra Guss

My name is Debra Guss and I’m a corporate attorney with Otis Elevator Company, having joined them after working in various legal positions with United Technologies Corporation, including Pratt & Whitney, for close to 20 years. Middletown has been my home for the last 27 years, although I did live here for an additional four years while attending Wesleyan University in the eighties. I returned to this wonderful town when my husband, Steve Angle, joined the faculty of Wesleyan and I have never looked back. Both my daughters, Samantha and Rachel Angle, were born here and attended Middletown public schools from Wesley to Middletown High School. Now that they are settled, I’m at a point in my life that I feel it is important to give back to the Middletown community, especially to the school system, which provided my daughters with a first-rate education and a very grounded view of the world. I truly value the diversity of our town and our school system. It should be a system for which all children are given the opportunity to thrive. The strength of Middletown schools has always been our teachers. I believe they need to be respected, listened to and provided the resources to focus on teaching. With many experienced teachers leaving the profession, we need to make sure that the next generation of teachers are provided the support needed to develop into the same high caliber educators. I believe that our educational system offers the best hope of making progress on many of the challenges that we face as a country and I will work hard for Middletown students to make sure our school system is up for the challenge.