Morgen Owings Elementary welcomes students back to school

CHELAN — Backpacks, hugs and a little first-day uncertainty returned to the sidewalks outside Morgen Owings Elementary School Tuesday morning as students arrived for the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.

Principal Erin Morin was outside to meet them, greeting students by name as children and their families approached the school.

“You can either go have breakfast in the cafeteria, or you can line up next to your teacher’s name,” Morin told each student as they arrived.

The instructions were repeated throughout the morning as another student, and then another, reached the school. Some headed toward breakfast while others found their teachers’ names and joined classmates waiting for the school day to begin.

For parents, the morning brought the familiar first-day routine of walking children toward school, adjusting backpacks, offering last-minute reminders and stopping for hugs before saying goodbye.

Crossing guards were stationed around the school as families arrived, helping students navigate the busy streets surrounding the elementary school in downtown Chelan.

Those crossings are part of everyday life at Morgen Owings, which has served generations of Chelan students since it was built in 1948. The school does not have its own gymnasium, requiring students to cross a busy downtown street for physical education classes at the community gym.

The school’s future will also remain a topic of discussion during the coming year. Morgen Owings emerged as the Lake Chelan School District’s top facilities priority in a recent community survey, conducted after a $73 million construction bond received 51.3% support in November 2025 but fell short of the 60% required for passage.

The district is considering returning to voters with a revised bond in 2027, and its Facilities Advisory Committee is expected to make recommendations to the Lake Chelan School Board this fall.

But Tuesday morning belonged to the students returning to the school they already know.

Some arrived holding a parent’s hand. Others walked ahead with the confidence of children who had done this before. Families paused for first-day photos and final hugs before students joined their classmates, while staff helped keep the steady stream of arrivals moving toward the school.

And Morin appeared to know exactly who was coming.

As students approached, she greeted them by name, then gave each the morning’s choice: breakfast in the cafeteria or a place in line beside their teacher’s name.

One by one, backpacks disappeared toward the building, parents headed back across the street and another school year at Morgen Owings Elementary got underway.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media