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Traveling teacher serves 350 LA Unified students (photos)
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Nov 11, 2013
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Traveling teacher serves 350 LA Unified students (photos)
Linda Mouradian is a 'traveling music teacher' who drives to different elementary schools in the valley where she teaches strings, woodwind and brass.
Advanced clarinet students practice at San Fernando Elementary School in Los Angeles Unified School District during the Fall 2013 semester.
Advanced clarinet students at San Fernando Elementary School.
(
Ken Scarboro/KPCC
)

Linda Mouradian is a 'traveling music teacher' who drives to different elementary schools in the valley where she teaches strings, woodwind and brass.

For most kids attending public schools in Los Angeles, arts instruction makes up a tiny part of their week. The L.A. Unified School District wants to increase arts offerings for students, saying there simply isn't enough of it.

Elementary school principals say they have to lobby hard for a share of the district's arts teachers - and often find themselves wanting more.

A few years ago, the district had nearly 400 traveling arts teachers. Today, there are slightly more than 200 for the district's 272,000 elementary school students. 

KPCC's Mary Plummer spent the day with Linda Mouradian—the sole music teacher for hundreds of students in the San Fernando Valley. She's a "traveling music teacher" who drives to different elementary schools in the valley where she teaches strings, woodwind and brass after bringing out her handy rolling cart stuffed with sheet music, lesson plans and attendance records.