Clayton County School District’s Professional Learning Center

The Professional Learning Center was designed by BHPR Incorporated and is owned by Clayton County. Michael Caldwell and Cindy Lee act of the Clayton County School District serve as property managers for the building. “At the PLC” has become a common refrain in the Clayton County Public School District since the August 2007 opening of the new state-of-the-art Professional Learning Center at 1087 Battle Creek Road. A wide variety of professional learning courses taught both during the day and during the evening make the center a busy hub where teachers can bring their laptops, enjoy the wireless environment, log onto the digital professional learning library, create classroom displays in the teacher resource center or attend courses across a variety of content areas. Students visit the center as well. Whether in a group of second-graders or enrolled in a high school physics class, students of all ages smile excitedly while visiting the distance learning lab at the PLC. In the lab, they engage in face-to-face exchanges in real time with NASA officials while the space shuttle takes off or virtually visit the Center for Puppetry Arts during an interactive lesson about the rain forest. Employees interface with leading experts around the country and even the world in this state-of-the-art digital distance-learning classroom. The flexible meeting spaces can be divided to accommodate groups from ten to two-hundred, and spaces are booked through an electronic scheduler. Groups that use the PLC include The Clayton County Public Schools Board of Education, the Clayton County Police Department, the Ethics
Commission and Archway Foundation from the University of Georgia and school council training groups of parents, business partners and community mentors Many times, teachers meet informally around the tables in the beautiful atrium, logging in on their laptops wirelessly to catch up on e-mails or lesson plans, or to complete their course assignments collaboratively. With plenty of parking and a central location within the school district, it is the perfect site for the annual New Teacher Orientation of the average 400 new teachers the district hires each year. The stunning atrium and the lovely interior offer an important first impression during the job fairs held throughout the year by the school district’s Department of Human Resources. The caterer’s kitchen is used frequently as the school system hosts employees, parents and other community members for various activities. It is truly a joy to meet “at the
PLC”.