Disclaimer: Even though she is teaching for this semester, she is technically still retired, but when the classes are over, she will be back retired. 

Six months ago, Kay Bacharach left the school for the final time. Suddenly, she came back from retirement for the spring semester of 2024-2025 school year. 

“We asked her, because we had hired someone who could not fulfill the position, and we interviewed people who, for whatever reason, couldn’t take the position as well. And in a desperate situation we reached out to ask to see if she would be willing to do it again,” David Tastor, an English department co-head at Granite Bay High School, said. 

Bacharach was asked to teach three English 9 classes for the spring semester, which she enjoys teaching.

“I haven’t been gone that long, so I felt like I was going to be stepping into [the school year] without a whole lot of stress, or nervousness or anything that would make it hard for me,” Bacharach said. 

With being back to school like the rest of us, she has experienced some mixed emotions about coming out of retirement. When Bacharach was not teaching, she enjoyed taking walks and the ability to take unlimited vacations. She was able to fly to Missouri midweek and take some trips with her husband. She enjoyed hanging out with Adrienne Evans, a Maidu Elementary school teacher, who retired at the same time as her. 

As a teacher, Bacharach now has to do work both at school and at home. 

“I don’t think anybody loves doing homework, and I’ve got some school work now that I need to do, but it does feel really good to be back and engaging my mind, and just being here feels really good. It’s such a good place to be,” Bacharach said. 

Bacharach is going to teach for the rest of the term. After, she is planning on being a substitute and may sub long term if the school needs her to do that. The school won’t let her teach another semester. 

“I’ve had lots of students do double takes. They expected me to be gone, and then they see me again. So it’s been fun catching up with a lot of my students, and it’s been so fun seeing the people who I’ve taught with for so long, so it’s been a really good week and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year together,” Bacharach said. 

Anika Mahajan, a sophomore at GBHS, has a favorite memory with her class.

“I will say after every single word cell test, to make it more enjoyable, you could say she would give us a piece of candy,” Mahajan said.