On Tuesday morning, November 30, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System celebrated the completion of its new Professional Development Center at 3000 N. Sherwood Forest Blvd. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The facility is designed for continuing education and professional development workshops and classes for teachers, administrators and other school district staff with a variety of learning settings.  In addition, in the event of a crisis, the facility can be used as a command center for the School System’s leadership in the event of a parish-wide emergency.

Located on the south side of the existing Sharp Station facility, the center includes four computer labs for computer-based training – each with 24 computer stations, an interactive White Board and instructor pedestal.  In addition, six classrooms have been designed for seminar-style presentations for up to 48 people and training tables.  Each class includes a ceiling mounted projector, screen, operable partitions for classroom reconfiguration and more.  The portable partitions ultimately could be moved to create one 7,200-square-foot space to accommodate 300 people.

Technologically speaking, all spaces are equipped with combination data and telephone outlets, wireless computer access points and cable television capability.  An analog telephone system as well as an HDTV antenna has been designed to serve the entire facility in the event of a loss of cable and telephone utility services.