September  2026

Dear Families,

Welcome to the new school year!  We’re excited to begin another year of growth, learning, and accomplishments for our youth this year.  We have a few things lined up for this year we want to share with you all and hope you all below.

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

Back to School Night will be on September 23, 2026.  Please come join us to meet your student’s teachers, our therapists, our counselors, and our admin team.  The event will be from 5-7pm.  Food and beverages will provided along with a raffle for your attendance.  The flyer is below with further information.

CLUBS

We offer clubs during our enrichment period for eligible students.  Students must be passing their classes, have no after school time, and no relationship work in order to attend.  Our clubs this year are Soccer Club, Dungeons & Dragons, Anime Club, Skate Club, Art Club, and Weightlifting Club.  We’re excited to offer these clubs this year and the future activities they’ll entail!

SPECIAL LUNCH

Once a month we allow students to purchase a special lunch we order from fast food restaurants such as In N Out, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Panda Express, and more.  Students use the bonus bucks they earn in class to make these purchases.  We want to give students an opportunity to access something different monthly for the hard work they put in. 

LUNCH BUNCH

Every week we also try to get students to practice their social skills with one another and build community with their peers.  We offer a small group of three students weekly an opportunity to have lunch with one another on campus.  Lunch is picked by the student who was chosen for the week and we provide the lunch for them. 

LATINX HERITAGE MONTH

Latinx Heritage Month is from September 15 – October 15.  During this time, our classes engage in honoring Latinx leaders and engage in activities to honor Latinx culture and legacy in our communities. 

TECHNOLOGY & BULLYING

As we navigate technology with our students it’s important to address and teach the risks and responsibilities around it.  It’s important we monitor student screen time as well as what they may be engaging in.  Please let us know if you see anything on your students’ phones that may be concerning.  We would like to support you all on how to address anything that may come up especially if any type of bullying occurs.  When excessive bullying or conflict arises, we do ask families to come in to discuss this with our team and possibly the other student and their caregiver if necessary.

PERSONAL ITEMS

As the school year started, we’ve noticed students are bringing personal items that could be at risk of being broken at school.  Items such as tablets, gaming consoles, and meta glasses.  We encourage students to keep these items at home due to the risk of being broken.

FIELDTRIPS

We hope to have a field trip monthly for our students.  We will send out permissions slips for each event and will keep you all updated as they come along. 

IN COMMUNITY

At Pathfinder, we stress the importance of the community we have here.  We see yearly how students are ablet to grow and learn from their mistakes and struggles with the support of their peers, families, and our team.  We hope to continue to cultivate the strong community we have and appreciate all of your collaboration with us. 

Feel free to reach out to any of us on our team if you have any questions about the announcements we shared. 

Thank you,

Grace Alvarez

Principal/Director

(510) 362-3602

grace_alvarez@senecacenter.org

Daniel Varela

Assistant Director of Clinical Services

(510) 570-6500

daniel_varela@senecacneter.org

Alden Hiller

Assistant Director of Transitional Services

(510) 496-9618

alden_hiller@senecacenter.org

Mark Balleza

Assistant Director of Milieu Services 

(510) 914-1630

mark_balleza@senecacenter.org

Steve Moreno

Assistant Director of Educational Services

(510) 362-4624

steve_moreno@senecacenter.org