Buena Regional High School

Buena Regional High School is a comprehensive regional public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from communities in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Buena Regional School District. Municipalities served by the district are Buena Borough and Buena Vista Township. The school opened in September 1971.[3]

Buena Regional High School
Address
125 Weymouth Road

Buena
,
Atlantic County
,
New Jersey
08310

United States
Coordinates39.535175°N 74.91838°W / 39.535175; -74.91838
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1971
School districtBuena Regional School District
NCES School ID3402400[1]
PrincipalMoses White
Faculty52.0 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment565 (as of 2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio10.9:1[1]
Color(s)  Blue and
  gold[2]
Athletics conferenceCape-Atlantic League
Team nameChiefs[2]
Websitewww.buena.k12.nj.us/our-schools/brhs

Students from both Estell Manor and Weymouth Township, attend Buena Regional High School as part of sending/receiving relationships with the respective school districts.[4][5]

Students from Newfield, a non-operating school district, had attended the district's high school until the 2010-11 school year, after the New Jersey Department of Education approved a plan in 2009 under which students from Newfield would start attending Delsea Regional High School, with those still at Buena attending until they graduate.[6]

As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 565 students and 52.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9:1. There were 235 students (41.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 64 (11.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

An addition completed in 1999 added six new classrooms and two state-of-the-art science labs.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 296th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[7] The school had been ranked 316th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 297th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[8] The magazine ranked the school 286th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[9] The school was ranked 289th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[10]

Curriculum

The curriculum offerings include Advanced Placement (AP) courses in AP Calculus, AP United States History, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP Biology and AP Chemistry.[4]

Athletics

The Buena Regional High School Chiefs[2] compete in the National Division of the Cape-Atlantic League an athletic conference comprised of both parochial and public high schools located in Atlantic County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, and Gloucester County, and operates under the aegis of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[11] With 433 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[12] The football team competes in the United Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference[13][14] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2018–2020.[15]

Buena Regional High School's athletic department offers interscholastic programs in boys and girls basketball, tennis, and soccer, as well as baseball and softball, girls' field hockey, boys' wrestling, boys and girls spring and winter track, cross country and football.[2] There are cheerleading squads for Varsity and Junior Varsity basketball and football. The baseball team has won or shared 15 league, conference, or division titles in 34 years. The baseball team won a South Jersey Group II State title in 2008 under Coach George West. A co-ed swim team was formed for the 2008-09 season. The girls cross country team under Michael Falciani has won two consecutive Atlantic County championships, and has been undefeated for four years in their conference.

The football team won the South Jersey Group II state championship in 1988[16] as well as reaching the state championship game in 2002, only to lose to West Deptford High School in overtime by a score of 21-20 on a controversial goal-line stand on a two-point conversion that was stopped inches from the goal line in a game described by sportswriter Phil Anastasia as what "might be the greatest ending to a football game I ever saw."[17]

The boys' cross country team won the Group II title, the school's first state championship, in 1988.[18]

The wrestling team won the South Jersey Group II state sectional title in 1994, 1995, 2003-2005 and 2015.[19]

The girls track team won the indoor relay championship in Group II in 1998.[20] The team won the indoor state championship in Group II in 1999.[21] The girls spring track team was the Group II state champion in 2011.[22]

The boys track team won the spring track state championship in Group II in 2000.[23]

The baseball team became the first title-winning team from the Cape Atlantic League when it won the Group II state championship in 2014 under coach Harry Grose with a 4-1 win in the tournament final against Bernards High School.[24][25]

Arts

The band and choir of Buena Regional have competed extensively throughout the years, with the choir winning a Grand Championship in a national competition in 1992.

The marching band has been under the direction of Keith Littleton since 2015. They have competed in the Cavalcade of Bands circuit. The band has steadily improved every year in organization, leadership, and structure, and has won awards in percussion and auxiliary. They won "Most Improved" at the Cavalcade Championships in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The Buena Regional High School drama club began in 2001 with a production of Oklahoma! Since then, the drama club has put on an annual musical. The program has sustained itself financially and had originally been under the guidance of the former choral music director for almost a decade. The 2010 production of Beauty and the Beast was followed by the 2011 production of Into the Woods and Pirates of Penzance (2012), You're a Good Man Charlie Brown (2013), Once on this Island (2014), and 9 to 5, the Musical (2015). The productions began to become more extensive with Bring it On: The Musical (2016), Disney's Aida (2017), and Seussical (2018), which featured students from every school in the district.

Administration

The school's principal is Moses White.[26]

References
  1. School data for Buena Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  2. Buena Regional High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  3. Buena Regional High School 2014 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 15, 2017. "The Buena Regional High School is a comprehensive regional public high school founded in 1971, serving students in grades 9 - 12."
  4. Buena Regional School District 2016 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 30, 2017. "Buena Regional School District is a comprehensive, regional public school district. The District's three elementary and middle school serve students from Buena Vista Township and Buena Borough. The District's high school serves students from Buena Vista Township and Buena Borough, along with students from the neighboring municipalities of Estell Manor and Weymouth Township through a sending/receiving relationship."
  5. Uzdavinis, Brian. "Pinelands hampers education in Buenas" Archived June 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Buena Vista Township, copy of article from The Press of Atlantic City, December 7, 2002. Accessed June 10, 2011. "Buena Regional - which serves three sending districts in Newfield, Weymouth Township and Estell Manor, along with Buena Borough and Buena Vista Township - has been asking the state for special needs, or Abbott, designation."
  6. Romalino, Carly. "State OKs Newfield's break with Buena district", Gloucester County Times, June 17, 2009. Accessed November 18, 2014. "The Board of Education here can sever its three-decade tie with Buena Regional School District, New Jersey Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy has ruled. The move will begin in the 2010-11 school year."
  7. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  8. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 12, 2012.
  9. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 1, 2011.
  10. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  11. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  12. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  13. Divisions, West Jersey Football League. Accessed September 5, 2020.
  14. Minnick, Kevin. "Football: Entering 10th season, a new leader for state’s second-largest conference", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 8, 2019. Accessed September 5, 2020. "The WJFL was created in 2010 as a way to help teams play a full schedule and face opponents of similar size, ability and geographical location.... The league is comprised of 16 divisions and includes better than 90 high schools."
  15. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2018–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, finalized August 2019. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  16. NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  17. Anastasia, Phil. "South Jersey football’s top 10 most memorable championship games", The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 14, 2018. Accessed July 24, 2019. "2002: West Deptford 21, Buena 20 (OT) in South Jersey 2... The Chiefs sent Mack, who took a shotgun snap, into the line, and he was ruled down about an inch from the goal line, with Marc Robb leading a horde of West Deptford defenders. This still might be the greatest ending to a football game I ever saw."
  18. NJSIAA Boys Cross Country Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  19. NJSIAA Wrestling Team Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  20. History of the NJSIAA Indoor Relay Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  21. NJSIAA Indoor Group Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  22. NJSIAA Girls Spring Track Summary of Group Titles, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  23. NJSIAA Spring Track Summary of Group Titles Boys, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  24. McGarry, Michael. "Buena Regional wins state Group II baseball championship", The Press of Atlantic City, June 7, 2014. Accessed April 28, 2015. "Brady pitched Buena to a historic victory and a state championship. The junior struck out 11 as the Chiefs beat Bernards 4-1 to win the state Group II title at Toms River East. Buena (22-5) is the first Cape-Atlantic League public school to win a state title since the state tournament began in 1971."
  25. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/document/20%20Baseball%20History.pdf NJSIAA Baseball Championship History], New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2020.
  26. Administration, Buena Regional High School. Accessed July 24, 2019.
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