In His New Role as Superintendent, a Mariachi-Loving Administrator Serenades the Houston School Board

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Laura RiceAugust 29, 2016 11:33 am

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

Richard Carranza, the new mariachi-loving superintendent at Houston ISD, sang his way into the new school year. This weekend, Inside Edition picked up on a story Houston Public Media has been all over – Carranza joining in on a mariachi serenade to celebrate his new job.

In the video uploaded by Houston ISD, the new superintendent even grabs a violin and joins in.




As Texas students head back in school, they’re also back to spreading germs in the classroom. Dr. Ross Tobleman at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Round Rock says they’re seeing a rise in strep throat cases.




Texas ranks toward the bottom when it comes to women’s equality, according to a new report by the finance website WalletHub.

They looked at three areas: workplace environment (the pay gap and the number of female executives), education (degree disparity and school test scores) and Political empowerment (female representation in government). WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez says overall, Texas ranked 38th.

“It was middle of the pack for both workplace environment and education,” she says. “What really brought Texas down in terms of women’s equality was the representation – or lack of representation – in government, especially local government. So a low number of women lawmakers in the state legislature is really what brought Texas down in these numbers. There are certainly some other places where Texas can improve. Right now, women are making about 82 cents on the dollar, compared to men. Not the worst in the country – it’s in the top 20, but still much room for improvement there. Not all bad numbers, thought – the unemployment rate is pretty equal in Texas and even when you’re looking at education, the percentage of residents that are over the age of 25 with a bachelor’s degree is pretty much equal as well.”

Texas scored its highest marks in education, where it ranked right in the middle at 24th.