ENCINITAS -- The board that oversees the Theory Into Practice Academy agreed Monday to hire a legal firm to help it in its fight to keep its doors open.

The move came a week after the Encinitas Union School District -- the district that holds the school's charter -- issued a "notice of remedy" ordering the academy's leaders to disprove allegations of fiscal mismanagement and conflicts of interest.

The academy is facing a May 30 deadline to provide the district with a range of documents, including tax records and payroll files. If it fails to meet the deadline, it could face restructuring or closure, district officials have said.

Academy board members said Monday that they were doing all they could to resolve the situation.

"The notice (from the district) contains some serious allegations and the board is working on a response," said board President Lisa Bishop after the board emerged from a closed-to-the-public meeting Monday night.

She said the board had just agreed to hire a law firm that specializes in charter school issues to help it handle the conflict.

Bishop participated in that closed-door discussion in her role as the board's president, but could not vote on this or any other matters, school Principal Deborah Hazelton said. Bishop can't vote because she's also a teacher at the academy, Hazelton said.

That was one of several moments Monday night that board members' voting status was stressed.

During the public portion of the meeting, newly made signs were placed in front of each board member giving the person's name and whether they were able to vote on items. One audience member also asked for information on which board members had children at the school and which had spouses employed at the school.

District officials have charged that the board's voting members include academy employees and people whose spouses work for the academy. The school's leaders say no board members who are employed at the school can vote, adding that they always have been careful to avoid such conflicts of interest.

There is one voting member who has a wife who works at the school, but this member is new and has not voted on any employee salary decisions, school officials have said.

In other action Monday, the four voting members of the board agreed to end the practice of giving children of the academy's "founders" special admission status. Before the school opened two years ago, a core group of parents received guaranteed admission for their children in exchange for extensive volunteer labor, Hazelton said.

That policy isn't needed any more now that the school is in its second year of operation, Hazelton said. Board member Ron Defibaugh asked what the change would mean for younger siblings. Would they need to go through the school's lottery process same way other new students are selected?

Hazelton said the school has a separate policy that allows siblings to enroll without going through the lottery system if they have a brother or sister who already attends the academy.

However, the change will affect one group of people -- founding members who have recently decided to remove their children from school. Several founding parents who pushed the district to launch an investigation into the academy's administration pulled their children out of the school last week. If they want to return, they will need to take their chances in the lottery, Hazelton said.