Back when I was a math teacher, I asked some elementary school teachers about their math instruction techniques. On answer in particular stuck with me, "I hate math." No matter how that teacher may have smiled and gritted her teeth in front of her students, it would be hard for her to pass on a positive attitude about a subject she hated. Like you said, kids aren't zombies. They can read adults' attitudes pretty well.

The teacher in the article may well stick with the curriculum and do her best to be even handed in class, but if her attitudes are as strident as those described in the article, the kids will pick up on it. Do her students believe they can disagree with her without suffering consequences, or do they put up and shut up for fear of being marked down? Like you said, it's hard to say without seeing how she actually teaches, but it is reasonable to be concerned about what she is teaching in her classes.