[Teacher317]

She contended that when her son presented a packet of information about students' rights to refuse to say the pledge, Laven threw the materials into a trash can and said he didn't care what the law is.

Again, I'd bet the "journalist" cut off part of the story.
My guess:
"Laven threw the materials into a trash can and said he didn't care what the law is, it was the misbehavior that was being punished, not the refusal to recite the pledge. The law regarding the pledge has no correlation to the punishment for a discipline problem."...
but that's not as sexy a story to write.

[ewing]

Excatamundo, Little Johnny Jihad Jr. Woodbury was being sent to the hall for disruping class..not the refusal to say it with the class.