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Truebright charter won't reopen in fall

The troubled Truebright Science Academy Charter School in Olney will close after all. Rather than take its legal fight for survival to the state Supreme Court, the charter's board decided Tuesday night to dissolve the school.

The troubled Truebright Science Academy Charter School in Olney will close after all.

Rather than take its legal fight for survival to the state Supreme Court, the charter's board decided Tuesday night to dissolve the school.

"They are going to wind down their operation and dissolve the entity," said Brian H. Leinhauser, the school's lawyer.

On Wednesday afternoon, Truebright administrators e-mailed parents to inform them of the decision. They also posted a notice on the school website announcing the closing.

The school's chief executive could not be reached for comment.

The demise affects about 300 students from seventh through 12th grades who had enrolled for the fall.

Peng Chao, an administrator in the Philadelphia School District's charter office, said district staff will be at Truebright on Thursday to help students and parents obtain records to transfer to district schools.

Parents with questions can also contact the charter office at 215-400-4090.

The decision came after Commonwealth Court on June 24 denied Truebright's request to reconsider a May ruling that the School Reform Commission had ample grounds in 2013 when it voted not to renew Truebright's operating charter because of poor academic performance. The school had remained open while it pursued an appeal with the state charter appeal board and then Commonwealth Court.

Truebright could have taken its case to the Supreme Court. But the statement on the school's website said the board had "determined that it is in the best interests of Truebright's students and community as a whole to forgo its right to appeal."

Truebright, which opened in 2007, is one of more than 120 charters nationwide founded and operated by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam who lives in self-imposed exile in the Poconos.

martha.woodall@phillynews.com 215-854-2789 @marwooda