Leticia Jara-Leake

Cahn Fellow 2019

Principal, Steck Elementary School

Denver, Colorado

Leticia Jara-­Leake was the principal of Steck Elementary, a “Distinguished” school within Denver Public Schools. Prior to this position, she served as the principal of Pascual LeDoux Academy, a center of excellence for early childhood education in the Denver Public Schools since 2013. Leticia has served the largely Hispanic community of Southwest Denver area for over 20 years in several roles including; Assistant Principal, RTI Coordinator, Math and Science Facilitator. Leticia has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foreign Language Teaching from the National University of Asuncion (Paraguay) and a Master of Arts degree in Social, Multicultural and Bilingual Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Leticia strongly believes in empowering staff and recognizing teacher talent along with high accountability through collaboratively created goals. As a principal, Leticia made creating a positive and collaborative staff culture a priority and has a firm belief that “culture beats strategy.”

In 2022, Leticia was promoted to Director of Schools, Collaborative 5, Denver Public Schools.