We love this school! I’m a parent of a 7th grader in Digital Media. The students are very talented. What they put out is always so moving and impactive!
The school feels so much like a community with very productive little people molded by a GREAT, passionate, very hardworking and dedicated STAFF!
WE ARE VERY LUCKY !
It’s such a positive and promising environment!
They all give way too much of themselves to the school and the children.
My son’s academics had improved a lot as well . Don’t know how they do it. I was very happy with his progress which was a big leap especially in ELA.
I’m indeed very happy and thankful for this school and community!

I have 11 years of being a parent at this amazing educational institution. It has grown and flourished among much adversity. It has continued to educate creative, bright young Bay Area students who have gone on to do amazing things. My older son just graduated from UC Davis in Chemical Engineering. He is very academically inclined and OSA kept him interested and helped him achieve 4 and 5 out of 5s in his AP exams. He often talks about the value in his life of his beloved OSA - a charter school. My younger son, who struggled in academics, is thriving (currently a 4.0) while learning creative production trades. Being able to use his hands and his mind in a creative manner, are what allow him to succeed now in academics. The creative environment of OSA helps with academic understanding. I really hope to see OSA continue as a charter school for the many creative young upcoming middle and high school students from Oakland and the Bay Area. Thank you for your time.

OSA has been a life changing experience for my daughter, she is not only feeling more included with school environment students and teachers but also she feel a strong support on her activities and art, before art for her was something to keep for her self, now is something of its bringing her more comfort and trust I her own skills and a plan for her future, OSA have a great environment of the teachers and staff work so hard to keep it up with inclusive support and dedicated presence and with the students and communications with the parents, in my old daughters school her joy and commitment was to different, she is not shy to try new things or afraid because of bullying, the teachers also keep a strong constancy keeping parents involve and communicated with everything, the school is building a strong a supported community in was of never saw before in other school, we feel blessed by been part of this amazing experiences of OSA is.

OSA is a vibrant and transformative institution....I speak as the father of a 7th grader, for whom OSA is everything. Everything!! The Charter renewal is absolutely central to its continued success and impact, as I see it. My 7th grader and her cohort of friends have built a loyal community of learner and doers, and I wish we could replicate the model. I'm a tremendous supporter of public education, I work at a public university and I wholeheartedly support the OSA faculty and staff, who are creative genii with hearts of gold. Let's put these committed people (faculty, students, staff, parents) and their wishes front and center and do the right thing!!

I strongly encourage you to renew the charter for OSA. Simply put, the school provides an invaluable experience for kids that they could never get in a traditional setting. By providing long blocks of time in their specialties, students are able to learn an artistic discipline at a much deeper level. My son, who is now a senior, has truly thrived at the school–and I believe he would not have thrived elsewhere. The school has not only helped him develop his skills in his speciality, but it has also helped him become a kind, thoughtful, critical thinker.

OSA is an all too rare jewel. We not only support the renewal of its charter, but support it as a model for arts education in Oakland and beyond. For all the innovation that our region provides to the world, innovation in our schools is sorely lacking. OSA should not only be supported by OUSD, but celebrated.

I 100% support the charter renewal for OSA! My daughter has absolutely thrived in the school. The incredible arts program has been essential for my daughter's love for music to grow. The arts immersion allows the students long blocks to express themselves in incredibly creative ways. It provides my daughter with an outlet she had not had before attending OSA. She loves the community at the school and has made lasting relationships with both teachers and students. She feels safe, creative and listened to. It's an amazing school and we're glad to be a part of it.

OSA is a unique school on the West Coast and my daughter is honored to go there. Each time I mention to people that she is attending the school they all comment that they have heard how impressive the school is and how special it is that Oakland supports OSA. These kids work incredibly hard at something they are passionate about and OSA gives them the platform to grow as students and dream as artists. Please keep this unique Oakland treasure going for future kids!

We have been OUSD parents for 14 years and have had wonderful experiences in public schools. We have also been fortunate to experience the incredible power of deep arts immersion at OSA, an educational experience expressly dedicated to children with a burning need to create. As a parent of two artists (one pursuing Jazz Studies in NYC) OSA has provided the creative support my kids have needed to thrive. In public middle school, my son was high achieving and also incredibly bored, often depressed and reluctant to attend school every day. Once we moved to OSA, complaints stopped and the mood swings evened out -- spending half his day playing music with equally serious musicians and professional musician teachers brought him so much joy and success. My daughter, a current freshman, is incredibly fulfilled -- excelling academically and artistically -- in the school's unique Production Design Program. OSA is a jewel and deserves renewal and support from OUSD. Please renew our charter.

Please consider renewing the charter for Oakland School for the Arts. There is nothing else like it for low income families, providing a quality education in the arts and a comprehensive academic experience that is tied to the students’ artistic work. My daughter is in her fifth year and my son has just begun his 6th grade year. I love the work that they do, how they see themselves and their peers as artists and our community is a caring one, bound together by the common cause of what arts can do to help the individual and the world. Art is a transformative experience for students!

This is our son's third year at the Oakland School for the Arts and he hopes to continue there for high school. OSA is a great fit for him and he has not regretted his decision to attend this school. The quality of the academic curriculum is high. It also fosters reflecting on social issues. The art curriculum is simply outstanding. Also, meeting classmates on a daily basis that are invested in various arts has opened his eyes to the wealth and diversity of artistic expressions. The Oakland School for the Arts

My family and I encourage the OUSD Board to approve the renewal of OSA charter. Both my son and daughter attended OSA from 6th grade through 12th grade. My daughter is now in college, and my son will be graduate high school this year. It's been a great experience for us all. A fabulous culture and community has developed where student, faculty and parents are deeply involved and committed to the kids - largely necessitate by the nature of it being a charter arts school. It's become a special institution to Oakland and the East Bay. My question and challenge to the OUSD Board is this. How would OUSD rejecting OSA's charter renewal benefit the kids? I have not heard a single reason from the board. I can't how it would. Please do the right thing for the kids and approve the charter renewal.

My son is in 10th gr. He is in the instrumental music department. I am one of the co-presidents of the APT. He has been at OSA since 6th grade. He loves the school because he can focus on his love of music, he has quirky friends just like him, and the school is small and he doesn’t feel overwhelmed. He is on the autism spectrum, diagnosed w/ auditory processing disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and depression. In short he has complex disabilities. The new leadership at OSA gives me hope. The APT worked to institute an equity platform in the new charter. It was supported by the new leadership at OSA. I strongly support this equity platform and am committed to working with the school to implement it to ensure that OSA meets the needs of all students, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of those kids like mine: brown, disabled, and talented. I believe in the new leadership, and I believe in parent and student power, and in equity work led by the most impacted and marginalized.

I strongly urge the Board of Education to approve OSA's proposed charter. This school thoughtfully and diligently fills a gap in Oakland's public education framework. Art is proliferating everywhere across society. The appetite for enthusiastic, creative young people is limitless. In such a diverse city with such a rich, vibrant cultural history, to not have a place of education that emphasizes cultivating the artistic expression and creativity of our young people would simply be a step backwards. OSA is at its heart a living, moving celebration of our community. Let's continue to push this concept forward and work together to make sure that any child that wants to enter its fold has a fair and equitable opportunity to do so.

As one of this year’s co-Presidents of the Alliance of Parents and Teachers, I enjoy a spot in OSA’s special community of inclusion, volunteerism and collaboration that allows us to be in a constant process of self-assessment and improvement. Over the course of the past few weeks, the APT, OSA Board of Directors and school administrators worked together to facilitate a meaningful and collaborative process to incorporate the ideas of all school stakeholders into our charter renewal. Some of the structures of parent and student engagement were incorporated into the charter and will remain permanent. It was through this collaborative process that the school community made the decision to change its admission criteria from primarily audition-based to lottery-based. Both the improvements to the parent and student engagement structures as well as the change to enrollment were specifically designed to promote greater diversity, equity and inclusion.

I am grateful for Oakland School of the Arts. My child has attended for the last 6 years through middle school and would like to see her finish out her final year with the Production Design emphasis as I know that this program will continue to provide a wealth of opportunity for her while she transitions to higher education. I believe that this school, as a charter, has provided my child the opportunity to prove her dedication and passion for her art in a way that no other school could. The unique structure of the school provides a roadmap for aspiring artists but also helps them to learn how to pace and discipline themselves for the rigours of life after education. There is a community formed within OSA that reaches beyond the walls of the school, we are celebrating the career paths of former students because we know that OSA was integral to providing them with every opportunity to find success. It's special place that should remain for future generations of young aspiring artists.

OUSD Board,
My husband and I 100% support the charter renewal for OSA. Our daughter has attended OSA since the 6th grade and is now a senior and OSA has provided an environment uniquely crafted to a student of the Arts. She has thrived in this community of students who have a similar early focus and passion. Our daughter is in the Dance Dept and the rigorous training provided at OSA could not be provided in any other school. She has thrived both artistically and academically over the past 7 years and we know she is extremely fortunate to have found OSA. This is a special place that offers certain students the platform to excel and this is something we need to continue to provide for students today and in the future. OSA has provided our daughter with the tools she will need to continue her artistic pursuits in college and beyond. Please renew OSA's charter so our children can continue to have this wonderful opportunity to explore their passions. Thank you.

The Oakland School for the Arts has been a very important part of the revitalization of downtown Oakland. The energy, diversity and culture that this school has brought to my neighborhood has been profound. They have elevated Oakland by winning 4 National Acappella championship, producing a youth poet laureate who slams her love of Oakland, and creates bridges across neighborhoods throughout the Bay Area. The school is an asset to be supported and nurtured by our community. They are creating CTE pathways with unions that are normally very closed off and the youth have intentionally cultivated a social justice position with their many voices and talents. They thrive by being together. OSA represents the best of what a charter school can be and should be renewed.

I strongly support the renewal of this unique and valuable school. My son transferred this year, as an 8th grader, into the Instrumental Music Program at OSA. I have seen him change so much, in such a short period of time. He is actually excited to go to school every day! He is so engaged in all of his classes, and I can see his confidence growing as an individual and as a musician. Please renew the charter, and allow our kids to continue to thrive at this wonderful school!

OUSD Board, please support the charter renewal of OSA. The children are being woven into the culture of our city. To see the streets of downtown Oakland be alive with young, creative, driven, kind people who are being educated in a caring environment is amazing! My daughter is challenged by the teachers every day to step up, be heard and be seen. She is exposed to art, dance, music and theatre at every turn and her grades and her spirit are being nurtured. She knows the teachers care, and she loves telling people she gets to attend the Oakland School for the Arts. We are sowing seeds with this school which are taking hold, and we have seen the Alumni give back. Thank you for listening to all of us!