VISTA -- Julian Union High School District's board of trustees could take the next step Thursday toward revoking its charter with Eagles Peak Charter School.

The trustees are scheduled to decide whether they want to issue a "notice of intent to revoke" the charter of the eight-year-old school, one of the largest charter schools in North County. Without a charter, it would not be allowed to operate.

The school's interim executive director, Art Townley, said he was disappointed and surprised that the district is moving toward revoking the charter. Still, he said he remains optimistic.

"I really feel like we've made a super effort to comply with their requirements," he said. "We're hoping for positive results."

The move toward revocation comes on the heels of similar situations with charter schools in Encinitas and Valley Center.

Eagles Peak board members made it clear at a meeting Tuesday that they would fight the decision if the Julian board tries to revoke their charter.

"We need to make sure that the board knows that we're committed to continuing this charter school at all costs," Trustee Rufino Diaz said at the meeting.

The steps the Julian board has made are making it difficult for the school to do business, Diaz said.

"We're basically being held hostage," he said. "They are crippling our ability to exist."

Calls to the five Julian trustees weren't returned Tuesday. Superintendent Jim Peabody was on vacation and unavailable.

When asked about the situation last month, Peabody said the board became concerned about Eagles Peak in May, after its board fired Executive Director Rich Alderson.

With Alderson gone, the board feared that some of the school's problems wouldn't be addressed quickly enough, Peabody said.

"They just wanted assurances that these things were being taken care of," he said about the school's financial issues. "Our board is very prudent, and they just wanted some answers to prove that these things are going to be addressed."

If the board votes to issue the revocation notice, the district would need to hold a public hearing on the issue within 30 days. After that meeting, the trustees could vote to revoke the charter.

If the charter is revoked, the school wouldn't necessarily close. School officials could appeal the decision to the San Diego County Office of Education.

The board first threatened to revoke Eagles Peak's charter in May with a seven-page letter detailing specific concerns. In the letter, the trustees ask school officials to prove they have or will take care of a laundry list of things, including tightening accounting rules, paying off what it owes the state, developing nepotism and conflict-of-interest policies, fixing attendance procedures, proving that it has the money to keep going, and addressing complaints about the a "hostile work environment."

Eagles Peak is the area's largest charter school, with nearly 2,000 students in San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties.

Charter schools run independently from school districts, though they receive public school funding from the state.

More than a year ago, Eagles Peak went through a high-profile split which separated it into two organizations amid increasing tension between the administrators and board members. The former executive director and many of her administrators moved over to the newly formed River Springs Charter School based in Riverside County.

Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.