Carrollton City Schools was named a first place finalist in the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Best Places to Work program at a recognition ceremony held Sept. 6 in Atlanta. The school district captured the top honor in the extra large business category, edging out many prestigious organizations in the Atlanta area.

The district was named one of the top 100 Best Places to Work last month in the first phase of the recognition program. From that list, three organizations from each size category were honored as finalists. In the extra large category behind Carrollton City Schools were Brasfield and Gorrie, one of the country’s largest privately-held construction companies, followed by the Shepherd Center, the renowned medical/rehabilitation center specializing in spinal cord and brain injury treatment.

“We were very pleased to be honored as a Best Places to Work and didn’t expect any recognition beyond that,” said Dr. Mark Albertus, superintendent. “We are humbled to be associated among the other 11 finalists. But what I am most proud about is this award validates the leadership at the top – our Board of Education – for placing strong emphasis on employee wellbeing and our child-centered culture. While we work hard to recruit the best teachers and staff and have high expectations, we also strive to create a true family atmosphere.”

This was the first time the city school system was nominated for the award and after an exhaustive application and survey process, was selected to join the other 99 small, medium, large and extra large organizations named to the list, according to Anna Clifton, assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning.

The awards were based on surveys conducted by Quantum Workplace, a global firm that performs culture assessments. In the survey, employees were questioned independently about their employers. Topics on the survey included trust, fairness and leadership.

Carrollton City Schools was one of the initial 10 extra-large companies to be honored and was joined by two other local entities – Tanner Health System, honored in the same category, and Carroll EMC, listed among the large company award recipients.

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Dr. Mark Albertus, Carrollton City Schools superintendent, left, and David Godwin, Carrollton Board of Education member, accepted the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s top Best Places to Work award at a recognition ceremony Sept. 6.