Buena Regional High School is a comprehensive regional public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from communities in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, 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.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."
Students from both Estell Manor and Weymouth Township, attend Buena Regional High School as part of sending/receiving relationships with the respective school districts.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."Uzdavinis, Brian. "Pinelands hampers education in Buenas" , 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."
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 491 students and 45.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9:1. There were 224 students (45.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 55 (11.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Buena Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History More than 350 students from the Buena Regional district had attended Vineland High School for grades 10–12 as part of a sending/receiving relationship. In March 1970, the Buena Regional School District went ahead with pursuing construction of its own high school after receiving notice from the Vineland Public Schools that it had "phased out" on receiving students at its high school due to rising enrollment of Vineland resident students."State Okays Buena High Proposal", The Daily Journal, March 11, 1970. Accessed February 17, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Buena Regional Board of Education met last night with architects John Oliver and Ivan Becica of Pennsauken, who presented the nearly-completed plans for the proposed new Buena Regional High School. The school is planned for an 84-acre site at Weymouth and Friendship rds. in Buena Vista Township. Construction costs have been estimated at $4,518,000.... Enrollment figures show a steady increase in the number of students in the school system, and Vineland High School has requested that pupils from all sending districts be 'phased out' by the end of the 1970-71 school year. Buena now sends 367 students to grades 10, 11, and 12 in Vineland."
Ground was broken in October 1971 for a new high school building on an site that would accommodate up to 1,200 students and be constructed at a cost of $4.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ). When the school opened for the 1972–1973 school year, enrollment was expected to include 700 students from Buena and Buena Vista Township, along with 200 students from Estell Manor and Weymouth Township. "Buena to Break Ground for High School", The Daily Journal, October 27, 1971. Accessed February 17, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Ground breaking ceremonies for the $4.5 million Buena Regional High School will be conducted Sunday, at 2 p.m. The new facility, which will be constructed on an 84-acre tract, will have a capacity for over 1,200 students and can be expanded to serve 1,500.... The building was designed by architects Oliver and Becica of Pennsauken and is scheduled to be completed by September, 1972. Approximately 700 students from the Buena area along with 200 others from the sending districts of Estell Manor and Weymouth are expected to attend during the first year."
An addition completed in 1999 added six new classrooms and two new science labs.
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.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."
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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. 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.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 12, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 286th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 1, 2011. The school was ranked 289th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
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, AP Statistics, AP Psychology and AP Chemistry.
Athletics The Buena Regional High School ChiefsBuena Regional High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the National Division of the Cape-Atlantic League an athletic conference comprised of both public and private high schools in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Gloucester counties, and operates under the aegis of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. With 374 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group I South for most athletic competition purposes.NJSIAA General Classifications - Public Schools 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022. The football team competes in the Patriot Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconferenceBuena Chiefs, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023.Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component." and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
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. 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 1988 football team finished the season with an 11–0 record after winning the South Jersey Group II state title by defeating Salem High School by a score of 21–0 in the championship game.NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.Viggiano, Bob. "Buena shuts down Salem to capture Group 2 title", Courier-Post, December 4, 1988. Accessed March 4, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The Buena High School football team is proudly wearing the label of South Jersey Group 2 champion. The Chiefs put the finishing touch on the greatest season in the school's history yesterday when they whipped previously unbeaten Salem 21-0 for the Group 2 title. The 11-0 Chiefs won the title with a little offense and plenty of defense." The team made it to 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."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."
The boys' cross country team won the Group II title, the school's first state championship, in 1988.NJSIAA Boys Cross Country Group State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.
The wrestling team won the South Jersey Group II state sectional title in 1994, 1995, 2003-2005 and 2015.Boys Wrestling Championship History: 1934–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated October 2024. Accessed November 1, 2024. Sophomore Shea Aretz became the school's first individual champion, when she won in the weight class.Mulranen, Patrick. "Buena Regional's Shea Aretz wins first state wrestling championship in school history", The Press of Atlantic City, May 2, 2024. Accessed October 15, 2025.Girls Wrestling Championship History: 2019–2025, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated March 2025. Accessed April 1, 2025.