As state spring testing nears, officials at James M. Singleton Charter School are offering intensive study-skills training and tutoring, principal Debra Robertson said during a recent board meeting.

Six college students from the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity have volunteered to work with the school’s eighth-grade students on their English Language Arts skills, Robertson told board members.

“We’re trying to help them get over some of the deficiencies they have before test time,” Robertson said.

The school also held a recent staff development meeting that focused on the weight and percentage of tested skills, Robertson said, and the school will hold informational meetings for parents of students in third through eighth grades who are taking the LEAP  and iLEAP tests.

The purpose of those meetings for parents, Robertson said, is to make them aware of test dates, achievement levels and promotional requirements.

The school has focused on academic achievement in the past year. Recently, the school had its charter with the state renewed for another three years after improving its grade from an F to a D.

In terms of financial health, the school has ended the first six months of the year with a budget excess of more than $370,000, Chief Financial Officer Catrina Reed told board members during the Jan. 20 meeting.

Singleton budgeted for about $3.1 million for the sixth-month-period ending in December, but has spent just over $2.7 million, according to a financial report circulated at the meeting.

Toward the end of the meeting, the board held an executive session for approximately 20 minutes to discuss a “personnel matter,” Board Chairman H. Kenneth Johnston said.

After the executive session, the board voted to accept the resignation of an unnamed staff member.