Lodi Adult Activity Center to stay open despite email claims

Several teachers at Lincoln Technical Academy last Friday received an email saying that the Lodi Adult Activity Center — a program for adults with developmental disabilities — would close its doors in May 2019 after approximately 35 years.

Jeff Palmquist, assistant superintendent of secondary education for Lodi Unified School District, said on Tuesday that the email was not sent by any district or school site administrator.

“We have no idea who that came from,” Palmquist said.

Although there are currently no plans to close the activity center, Palmquist said the district is exploring the possibility of transferring the program’s services — such as providing job training, independent living skills, nutrition classes, socialization skills and more — to Valley Mountain Regional Center, a Stockton-based nonprofit organization that provides clinics, advocacy, residential and day programs and other services for children and adults with developmental disabilities throughout San Joaquin County.

“We’ve been meeting with VMRC to discuss what transferring those services might look like,” Palmquist said. “We want to make sure that these people get the services they need, and transferring those services to VMRC might be the best way to do that.”

As replacements have not yet been hired for some of the activity center’s staff who either have retired or will retire soon and there have been some talks that the program may operate differently in the future, Palmquist said there may have been a misconception that the center will close for good.

Palmquist emphasized that there are no plans to close the center, and that the same services will still be provided, even if they are transferred to VMRC in the future.

“There isn’t going to be a situation where service stops,” Palmquist said.