Special needs program closure brings mixed emotions for instructors

A decades-old program that caters to young adults with special needs closed its doors earlier this month.

Instructor Lucy Vollstedt said she and other teachers at the Lodi Activity Center were told the news on Aug. 7 through a phone call from Lodi Unified School District administrators.

“They decided to close the program due to COVID-19 because we weren’t able to serve the students,” she said. “They thought services could perhaps be provided through outside programs.”

Lodi Activity Center was created in 1977 to help adults with developmental disabilities older than 22 learn basic life skills in an effort to make them more independent.

Vollstedt said many of the students — which have numbered hundreds over four decades, she said — have case managers with Valley Mountain Regional Center. She and former instructor Rita Devencenzi are hoping the case managers can place the students into new programs soon.

Devencenzi had been an LAC instructor for 33 years and retired two years ago, but has volunteered since that time with the center. She and Vollstedt were cleaning out a classroom at the center, which called 542 E. Pine Street — now also home to the Lodi Technical Academy — home for its entire 43-year life.

“It’s been heartbreaking,” Devencenzi said of the closure. “You come into the class, and it’s like cleaning out a room after someone you know has died. Our students had a lot of personal items here, so we’re boxing everything up and delivering it all to our students.”

Each year, the staff would create photo albums of the students, their activities and outings, and Devencenzi said about 15 had been found over the last four weeks during the cleanup.

She said the albums contained a lot of great memories, and that the program had wonderful students. Some had even been with the program 30 years, she said.

“We’re just unhappy to see it end,” she said. “It had been talked about for at least a couple years. There was another program that would have started at The Village that would have kept students here, but then COVID hit and kind of stopped everything for now.”

Devencenzi said the closing should not be an obituary for the center, but more of a thank you to the community and parents who supported the program over the last four decades.

Diane Bowe was one of the first teachers at the center, and recalled many of the programs and activities it provided to developmentally disabled adults.

“(The district) was looking for someone to run a day program for developmentally disabled adults back then,” she said. “I was teaching a recreation class with a gentleman who didn’t want to be part of the program. It was the chance of a lifetime for me, and it was just a wonderful thing to be a part of, especially with all the students we helped.”

Bowe said the day program consisted of teaching students independent living skills and some academics. Each student had an individual program plan to suit their abilities and needs, she said.

Some of the most memorable moments Bowe had of the 40 years she taught there

included holding snack and craft sales, which helped the academy install an instructional kitchen to teach students how to prepare their own meals.

In addition, she recalled how the academy implemented a shredding program that paid students minimum wages in which residents and small businesses would routinely bring in documents for students to shred.

Students participated in computer and art classes, as well as learned how to do laundry, groom themselves properly and wash dishes, among several activities provided and skills taught.

They also learned money management, reading and comprehension skills and math computation, among other academics.

The center also provided vocational training in the custodial field, including vacuuming, sweeping, and cleaning surfaces.

“We had a community that was just very supportive of the program,” Bowe said. “This was like a family, and you always carry that in your heart. When you retire, you want to make sure people who take over have the same heart you had, and they did.”

A representative for the school district was unavailable for comment.