Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
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.