READING, WRITING AND RELATIONSHIPS: Mayor Sam Adams’ education agenda and other priorities move ahead. IMAGE: vivianjohnson.com

Had he been an employee of Portland Public Schools, Mayor Sam Adams probably would have been fired for asking a teenager to lie about the pair’s sexual relationship.

He also would have lost his Oregon teaching license, according to the state’s Teacher Standards and Practices Commission.

But one week before school starts on Sept. 8, Adams is no longer under the cloud of Attorney General John Kroger’s criminal investigation. And with no charges against him, Adams is reasserting himself as Portland’s top elected official—in ways large and small.

Perhaps nothing illustrates that better than Adams’ renewed focus on education policy and his goal of reducing the city’s high-school drop-out rate.

In his campaign for mayor, Adams promised to be Portland schools’ chief cheerleader. But during his first six months in office, as Kroger’s probe continued, that seemed all but impossible. Adams wasn’t invited to education conferences, or to press conferences held in schools. He never played a noticeable role in advocating for more money for schools as the Legislature crafted its K-12 education budget.

What a difference a few months make. In a way, Adams has accomplished that rare feat many high-school students would want for themselves: It’s back-to-school time, and Adams appears more popular, more confident and more visibly involved with his political agenda than when school ended.

The signs of Adams’ comeback are varied:

• In keeping with a tradition that extends at least as far back as former Mayor Tom Potter, Adams will visit a Portland public school on the first day of class. Adams is set to visit Renaissance Arts Academy at Marshall High School in Lents next week, according to PPS, according to PPS.

• And on Oct. 27, Adams is scheduled to serve as a “principal for a day” at a Portland public school as part of a program from the Portland Schools Foundation.

• This week, as the Portland Association of Teachers union and Portland Public Schools administrators continue contentious contract talks, Adams planned to meet with both groups.

But education is not the only area in which Adams seems to have the bounce back in his step.

• After a failed attempt to build a new Triple-A baseball stadium in the Rose Quarter ended with Portlanders accusing Adams of moving too fast on the area’s redevelopment plans, the mayor has restarted the process in a more deliberate fashion. On Aug. 21, he named a 32-person committee to study possible re-use of Memorial Coliseum.

• A controversial law that a Multnomah County Circuit judge ruled unconstitutional in June—Portland’s so-called sit-lie ordinance outlawing sidewalk obstruction—may get a major overhaul, thanks to Adams. The public work of revisiting sit-lie had for months been the domain of Commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz. But Adams is now more visibly involved in reworking the ordinance. Fritz says Adams is coordinating the council and being very respectful that every councilor has a role to play. “And that’s what a mayor should be doing,” Fritz says.

• With the Portland Bureau of Transportation in his portfolio, Adams maintains heavy involvement in the planning of roadways for vehicles and bicyclists in Portland.

  On Aug. 12, with television cameras rolling for some possibly positive news, Adams celebrated the groundbreaking of a project to make East Burnside Street and Northeast Couch in inner Northeast Portland a “couplet”—two one-way streets running in opposite directions. This despite some earlier opposition in planning circles.

• Adams is also making efforts to change zoning codes to allow property owners to erect wind turbines. If the plan is approved by City Council, each new turbine would let Portlanders power about three light bulbs. But proponents of wind power—including Sattie Clark, who has expressed interest in running for Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder’s seat—say it’s the right thing to do.

The most dramatic signs of Adams’ turnaround remain those in education. Multnomah County Chariman Ted Wheeler says the education cabinet he co-chairs with Adams “had a very successful summer.”

“Both the mayor and I agree that this is not about him or me,” Wheeler says in an email. “Our goal is to create a lasting vision of support for kids both before they enter high school and throughout their high-school careers to keep them engaged.”