I just finished the last course I needed to get recertified. I am taking several tests this fall and then I hope to get a job next year. I wanted to keep this year open to be a room mom and help with Anna Kate's class. I did that with my older 2 and I want to do it with her as well. Especially since I am leery of the teacher. I hate feeling this way, because I have loved all of my girl's teachers. But we all had a really good summer, we had fun together and all 3 didn't want to go to school. So maybe after we get back into the routine it will be better. Sometimes I think I wish I had homeschooled. The school sees my children more than I do.
I wish you the best in getting recertified and getting a teaching job you like. I think in a few weeks all will be routine for you and your children as regards school. But do listen to your instincts if you're not comfortable with a teacher. I was not blessed with a good mom like you, but that makes me more apprecative of good moms. I think a loving mom's instinct can be a powerful thing.
It might just be the first-week jitters for everyone. It's hard for moms, it's hard for some of the kids, and if the teacher is young and inexperienced, the idea of being left alone with 20+ emotionally-charged semirational children might make it a difficult breaking-in time for her too.
I'm not a mom, but I would wait a couple of weeks and see how it goes before considering switching teachers. After the initial strangeness, your daughter might do really well in that teacher's class. Just a thought but maybe you could invite her over for lunch or dinner sometime soon. That way your daughter could get to know her on her own turf with mom and dad around.
My kindergarten teacher was not a very warm person at all. She would have done a fine job with older elementary school kids, but she just wasn't well-suited to kindergarten.
Most people did okay with her, though it was a bit annoying that she tried to prod me to do things right-handed. I was the size of a toddler and could barely write with the jumbo-sized pencils with my good hand for any length of time. I didn't learn to tie my shoes until second grade (I begged mom to buy me Velcro) because the day I finally got it, she untied them and said I had done it with my hands backwards and to start over. Just try doing it opposite-handed sometime. It's nearly impossible. I found out from my mom a few years ago that the reason she backed off on writing and scissors was that she had called my parents to enlist them to encourage me to do things "properly" and they told her they didn't care what hand I used as long as it was legible. (I still cut right-handed though, because another kid always got the lefty scissors first, and when I finally got my hands on it, it was too hard for me to open anyway.)
I also had a very strict first grade teacher. She'd put the fear of God in you when she raised her voice, but she was also one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. When my mother was pregnant, my sister kept trying to come out early, and mom had to be hospitalized and bedridden for six weeks. My teacher offered to let me and my oldest brother, who was in kindergarten at the time, stay with her. We had an awesome time, and I still hear from her from time to time.
I hope this helps.