BUENA BOROUGH — Walt Whitaker has never lived in Buena and he's never worked here either, but he says he knows what the school district needs.

Whitaker, the newly hired superintendent of the Buena Regional School District, has spent his entire life in southern New Jersey, most of it as an educator.

“I've worked in a small school district with a small administrative team,” Whitaker said. “As a result, I had to wear a lot of different hats.”

The Dennis Township resident grew up in Cherry Hill, attended Trenton State College, which is now The College of New Jersey, and began teaching in Burlington County shortly afterward.

His educational experience is extensive and almost exclusively in Ocean City.

Aside from the year he spent teaching in Burlington County, Whitaker taught in Ocean City for 10 years and was named the chairman of the high school's fine and industrial arts program, then he served as the director of curriculum and technology for 11 more years.

Whitaker believes his transition to superintendent will be a smooth one, despite budget, funding and miscalculated money issues. Those can all be resolved Whitaker says, in part because the community is supportive.

“I have a real strong sense of community here,” Whitaker said. “There are multiple generations of families here that have a love for (Buena) and I'm certainly hoping to be a part of that.”

One of the largest issues facing Whitaker and the start of his tenure has already been taken care of, he said.

The Buena Regional school budget was miscalculated and was found to be $700,000 short. Instead of raising property taxes or dropping school programs, the district decided to make up the sum by using the interest generated by invested funds that were to be used for the building of a new middle school.

Whitaker said the error, while resolved, is unacceptable.

“First they said they didn't need it, then they said they didn't have enough and now they say we found it,” Whitaker said. “If this hadn't happened, that money would have been earmarked for something else.”

The problem with the miscalculation, Whitaker said, is that it's hard to make up what is lost. While neighboring Cumberland County cities Millville and Vineland receive additional funds because they're Abbott districts, Buena does not, despite facing what Whitaker says are similar hardships.

|“Buena is rich in terms of its Pinelands and its farms but it doesn't have the ratables, so it's an imposition when we have to ask for money,” Whitaker said. “This is a year-round community. There are no summer houses, no boardwalk and they don't have a big industry.”

The path to success in Buena, said Whitaker, is in working together. From the school board to teachers to students and parents a common goal is necessary in overcoming obstacles in the district.

“If I go in and try to play sledgehammer things are going to stop working,” he said. “I need these people to be with me.

“Yes, I've got some ideas but I don't want people to compromise, I want people to get on board.”