do you have to say the pledge in classrooms ? and are atheists allowed to skip the "one nation under god" part? or sub in their own fictional characters?

My school does not recite the pledge.  It’s the first school that I’ve ever worked at that does not recite it daily. 

All of the other schools I’ve worked at have recited the pledge, but teachers were well aware of certain things. 

1. No student can be forced to recite or stand for the pledge.
2. Students can say whatever they want during the pledge, but it has to be non-disruptive to the classroom environment.

As a teacher, I did say the pledge.  I was not obligated to, but I did feel that I should.  However, I did not say the, “one nation under God,” phrase.  It’s actually how I discovered that one of my master teachers was an atheist.  She noticed that I omitted the phrase and told me that she did the same.  I’ve never had a student notice my omission.