Dear School District Superintendents, Charter School and Education Collaborative Directors, Business Managers, Town Treasurers, Personnel Administrators and Payroll Officers,

As explained in our broadcast e-mail of March 13, to help ease the administrative burden on you, and to assist members in qualifying for the lower, “buyback” interest rate by the April 2 deadline, our Board allowed individuals who filed only the member portion of their applications until October 2, 2013 to submit the employer portion of their applications.

We are writing at this time to remind you of this deadline, and also to let you know that we recently reminded the affected members of this deadline. On August 15, we mailed personalized “FINAL REMINDER” letters to members whose 6,200 “Section 3” service purchase applications were incomplete to advise them that they must submit the missing documentation and information so that it is either received by us, or postmarked, on or before October 2.

P.S. to our colleagues in western Massachusetts: As you know, beginning today and for the next few weeks, we will be converting to our new, agency-wide computer system. So that our western regional staff may attend training in Cambridge,our Springfield office will be closed on Monday, August 26 and Tuesday, August 27, and coverage there will be limited for the remainder of the week. Accordingly, if your employees need assistance from us during the week of August 26, please advise them to visit our website or call our Cambridge office. Thank you!