The Cooper City Commission honored Mrs. Sandra Lopez-Gallardo, a sixth-grade Language Arts teacher at Pioneer Middle School along with her students, with the city’s Kids of Character Award on Feb. 14th.
Just prior to the holiday break, 11-year-old Lucia Eves suffered from stroke-like symptoms during class. At that moment, all 21 students knew exactly what to do during this emergency. Mrs. Lopez-Gallardo has a “best practice rule” for the classroom. All the students got up and left the classroom quickly until help arrived. This ensured the medical emergency did not end up on social media and ensured first responders were able to focus on the ailing student.
School administrator Veronica Garza, and ESE Specialist Kimberly Prager were also honored for assisting Emergency Medical Technicians during the emergency. Thankfully, after a few days in the hospital, Lucia was back in the classroom with his friends and classmates.
Pioneer Middle School was established in 1976 and has a student population of around 1,400. The school first opened during the United States’ bicentennial year and adopted red, white, and blue as its school colors, as well as the Eagles as its mascot in recognition of the nation’s 200th birthday. The school has been rated an “A” school by the Florida Department of Education for multiple years.
According to her Linkedin profile, Mrs. Lopez- Gallardo has been teaching at Broward County Public Schools since 2004. She earned a bachelor’s Degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey and holds a teaching certificate from Nova Southeastern University. She has earned multiple teaching awards during her career, including the State of Florida’s High Impact Teacher Award and, most recently, the Innovate Teaching Method Award.