Teachers who can unlock students’ passion. Guidance in preparing for an unknown future. Smaller class sizes. Recognition of students’ lives beyond school. And free coffee.

Those were some of the recommendations offered Thursday by a five-member panel of current and former Portland Public Students during a one-hour forum that provided an inspiring kickoff to Day 2 of PPS’s Leadership Institute at Roosevelt High School.

The start of fall sports is a week away, with high school teams allowed to hold official practices on Monday, Aug. 13. That means the clock is ticking for athletes to complete a required physical to participate.

Portland Public Schools has adopted a detailed policy for making records available to the public.

At its July 18 meeting, the PPS Board of Education unanimously passed Resolution 5682, which approved a significant expansion of district policy for handling public records requests.

Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero has been chosen as a member of the executive committee for the Council of the Great City Schools, a nationwide organization dedicated to improvement of urban public school systems.