The day the state board cast that vote, 150 students and parents piled into the board room in protest, expressing fear that their education, coming from an unaccredited school district, could soon be worth nothing in the eyes of many.

That same year, the state decided to install what would be the first of its kind in Missouri: a three-member appointed board to replace the district’s local elected board. The experiment was scrutinized from the start.

But Tuesday, state school leaders expressed confidence that the city school system has experienced a legitimate turnaround.

“Certainly, we’ve seen what leadership stability has done for this district,” said Chris Neale, an assistant commissioner of education. “It doesn’t matter which standard you look at. We’ve seen positive achievement across the board in the past four years.”

The state board’s vote for full accreditation returns to the district a level of confidence it has not seen in many years — one that many say could remove a shadow of stigma that has hovered over the city as a place to live and raise a family.