Christopher Zagacki

In 2022, Christopher assumed his role as Chief Executive Officer at New Foundations Charter School, where he oversees the school system, ensuring mission and vision alignment and successful outcomes for all community members, including students, staff, and parents. He leads both the K-8 and 9-12 buildings. Prior to his role as CEO, Christopher served as the principal of Freire Charter Middle School (2014-2022). Under his leadership, Freire Charter Middle School was ranked in the Top 10 for middle schools in Philadelphia according to the district School Progress Report (SPR) for two years in a row (2016-17 and 2017-18). In 2018-19, Freire, for the third consecutive time, achieved a 100 on the SPR growth category. No other school has achieved a 100 more than once. Freire had the state’s third highest growth in English Language Arts in 2016 and 2017 and the state’s highest growth in Math on state standardized tests in 2017-2018. Freire is also the only school to score a 100 in the progress category of the SPR for two consecutive years (2016-17 and 2017-2018).

Christopher has been an educator since 2007. Prior to becoming a principal, Christopher served as a Director of Special Education, an adaptive physical education teacher for students with autism, and a 9th grade special education teacher. Christopher grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Roman Catholic High School.