Steve Green surprised those at tonight’s DeKalb County Board of Education meeting, letting slip that the group that the district has earned full accreditation from AdvancED, the group that accredits schools.

District officials said in December they had completed a list of 14 items given by an AdvancED monitoring board to address.

Efforts to reach AdvancED officials were unsuccessful Monday night.

The district was “Accredited on Probation” after an October 2012 site review amid slumping test scores and budget mismanagement, evidenced by a $14 million deficit. The district already had been listed as “Accredited on Advisement,” one step beneath unconditional accreditation.

After a December 2013 visit, the district’s accreditation was boosted to “Accredited Warned.” A visit in December 2014 moved it up to “Accredited on Advisement.”