LITTLE EGG HARBOR – A former district employee recounted her ongoing difficulties with the Pinelands Regional School District to receive her pension benefits during a recent board of education meeting.
Lauren Meglino-Runza began working for the district as a substitute in the 1990s, and continued her employment on and off until 2019. She worked as a substitute teacher, substitute aide, media center specialist, teacher’s aide, and a teacher.
Meglino-Runza said, “Despite this ongoing issue, I have continued to support this district whenever I have been asked.”
She said that because of these repeated delays, she now experienced more than a $20,000 increase in her salary.
“As a result, when this matter is finally resolved, I will be required to pay a substantially more amount to purchase my pension credit than I would have had if this had been finished in a timely manner,” she added. “That financial burden exists solely because this matter has been allowed to continue unresolved.”
“I do not believe that most people would have spent eight years repeatedly gathering records, reapplying, following up after being ignored time and time again, especially by a district to which their family – my family – has dedicated years of service.”
She said that in 2018, she contacted the state regarding her pension and was informed that substitute service would be accumulated and was able to be purchased as pensionable time.
“I then contacted Cynthia Hoffman in the board office to obtain verification of my accumulated service,” she explained. “Ms. Hoffman informed me that it was not the district’s responsibility to keep track of my employment, and then I would need to compile my own records and provide her with the dates of service that I worked here.”
“After spending several months gathering records, speaking with teachers for whom I substituted, contacting those responsible for assigning me long-term positions, I created a detailed list and submitted it to Mrs. Hoffman,” she said. “I then applied to the state to purchase this service credit. After months without a response from her, I contacted her again.”
“She explained that she had been out on extended medical leave, and had not yet reviewed my information, but she would do so shortly.”
“Later, she attributed the delay to Covid and again assured me that the matter would be handled immediately.” She added that meanwhile, several requests from the state asking Pinelands to verify her employment went unanswered, and this continued through 2021.
In 2022, Meglino-Runza was informed that Ms. Hoffman no longer worked for the district and [Human Resources/Payroll] Sarah O’Toole would now be handling her case.
Meglino-Runza said, “I forwarded all of my previous correspondence to Ms. O’Toole, and explained the history of the matter.”
“She informed me that she could not rely on the information that I am submitting, and that she would need to research this and verify my information. This directly contradicted the guidance that I had received from Ms. Hoffman four years earlier,” she said. “Despite numerous emails and conversations with Mrs. O’Toole, many emails which had gone unanswered, the issue remained unresolved.”
Meglino-Runza said that she then contacted Assistant Superintendent Gina Frasca, who assured her it would be taken care of. She added, “I reapplied to the state for the pension buyback time once again.”
“Three separate requests for employment verification were ignored by Ms. O’Toole. After sending a first, second, and third notice from the state, the district still did not respond and the state closed my case,” she said. “I then contacted Ms. Frasca who was appalled by this. She referred the matter to Mrs. Farrough instead.”
“After several weeks, Ms. Farrough responded and she confirmed my employment. Based on that confirmation, I once again applied to the pension buyback program. Unfortunately, the same thing happened again.”
“The state sent three additional requests to Mrs. O’Toole for her to verify my employment, even though Mrs. Farrough had already done so,” she said. “None of the state’s requests were answered, and my application was denied yet again because the district failed to verify my employment.”
“After additional emails with Mrs. O’Toole that went unanswered, I contacted Mrs. Frasca again in April and let her know what was going on. She assured me that she would speak to Mrs. O’Toole and assured me the matter would be resolved.”
“In June, I received another copy of the state’s third and final request, yet again, to Pinelands, to Mrs. O’Toole, for my employment verification, which has gone unanswered, again.”
“I contacted Mrs. Frasca and explained that this has now been an eight year ordeal,” she said. “No one should have to fight this hard simply to receive benefits they have earned.”
Attempts to contact the superintendent, board president and board vice president for this article were unsuccessful.
