Oakland School for the Arts School of Dance

OSA is located in the Oakland Fox Theatre building at 530 18th Street at Telegraph Avenue. On April 1, 2009 OSA was selected to be a California Distinguished School.

Oakland School for the Arts is a college preparatory, arts middle and high school. It was founded in 2000 via charter from the Oakland Unified School District. It received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in October 2001. In September 2002 OSA opened its doors to its first freshman class, the class of 2006. The school was the dreamchild of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and its first director was Loni Berry.

The school started at the Alice Arts Center building in downtown Oakland. It was moved to portables near the Oakland Fox Theatre during the 2004-05 school year, and moved to the Oakland Fox Theater building in January 2009. San Francisco School of the Arts principal Donn Harris became OSA Executive Director in December 2007.

Oakland School for the Arts first opened with a ninth grade class and added another high school grade each year. For the 2005-06 school year, a middle school was added.