• Staff and pupils at Cordley Elementary, 1837 Vermont, celebrated the end of a successful food drive Thursday, delivering 71 boxes of donated food to the Cornerstone Southern Baptist Church food pantry.

Kelly Rettig, kindergarten teacher and organizer of the food drive, said the items will help stock the “back-snack” packages that the food pantry distributes on Fridays to needy students to make sure they have food to eat over the weekend.

Rettig said the food pantry served more than 4,000 people over the last year, including many Cordley students and their families.

“It’s our way of giving back, helping the people who help us,” Rettig said.

• “Everyone is Bullied” will be the theme of a free panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, at the Carnegie Building, Ninth and Vermont.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is being sponsored by Headquarters Counseling Center, Lawrence Queer Youth Voice and the Kansas Youth Empowerment Academy.

The panel will include Kristin Russo and Danielle Owens-Reid, authors of the advice blog EveryoneIsGay.com. They will Julia Thomas, director of the Kansas Youth Empowerment Academy, and local youths in the discussion about bullying.

• Friday is a day off from school for all Lawrence students, PreK-12, due to elementary professional development and secondary parent/teacher conferences held earlier this week.

• Do you have school-related news you’d like to share with the community. Call me at 832-7259, or email phancock@ljworld.com.