St. Joseph's Prep names new principal

St. Joseph's Preparatory School announced Monday that the private Catholic boys' school in North Philadelphia will have a new principal for the next academic year.

The Rev. George W. Bur, president of the Jesuit high school, said Jason Zazyczny, the school's director of admissions since 2004, will become principal in July.

He will succeed Michael Gomez, who is leaving to become the first principal of Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School, a private Catholic academy with a work-study component that opens in the fall in North Philadelphia.

Zazyczny (pronounced za-ZITCH-nee), a 1990 Prep graduate and onetime history teacher at the school, joined the admissions staff in 2001.

He was selected for the principal's post after a three-month search.

"I am excited to be able to make this announcement because I am confident that Jason is the right person to lead the Prep at this juncture," Bur said in a statement.

The Prep - as the institution is known - is a college-prep school that enrolls 989 male students.