In fall 1976, the district opened the Valley View Learning Center, an alternative school providing individualized education for students identified as dropouts or potential dropouts. From 1976 to 1989, the center was housed in the former Farmers Branch Elementary School building on Valley View Lane. When a new facility was built in 1989 on Hutton Drive in Carrollton, the center was named in honor of Mary Woodworth Grimes. Mrs. Grimes was a C-FB ISD educator for 25 years and is considered the matriarch of the district’s special education program. She began teaching at the Farmers Branch Elementary on Valley View Lane in 1954.  Because of her interest in helping children with learning disabilities, she completed additional university classes and became an educational diagnostician in 1970.  She gave support to the Valley View Learning Center staff from 1976 until retirement in 1980. After the Mary Grimes Center opened in 1989, "Miss Mary" was a frequent guest at the center and was always surrounded by students until her death in 1998.

In Memoriam

• Jennifer Lee (Mullin) Wright - Teacher