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CambridgeTimes Article: Catholic board doles out 7,000 suspensions: 

"The Waterloo Catholic District School Board doled out almost 7,000 suspensions this past school year— a number equal to about one third of its enrolment.According to board records, there were 6,836 suspensions in Catholic elementary and secondary schools in 2010-2011, compared to 4,127 in public schools.Enrollment for the school year was about 20,775 students."

Virginia Beach woman was home-schooling pioneer | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com:

"Before the early 1980s, it was unclear whether the state's education laws even permitted home schooling. Some parents who pulled their children out of school to teach them at home landed in court.
Then in 1984, the General Assembly added home schooling to the list of ways to comply with compulsory education laws. The move followed a national trend, and home-schoolers nationwide grew from roughly 15,000 in the early 1970s to between 120,000 and 260,000 by the mid- to late 1980s, according to the Virginia Department of Education."

Homeschooling a growing trend across nation » Local News » Weatherford Democrat: 

"In 2007, close to 1.5 million children were enrolled in homeschool, a 74 percent increase in homeschool attendance since the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999."

Study suggests school still tough for gays – School Matters - Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Sarasota, FL - Archive: 

"Gay, lesbian and and transgender students in Florida middle and high schools are regularly victims of physical and verbal abuse , according to a study released this week by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
The 2009 study revealed that 92 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) regularly heard derogatory terms like “fag” and “dyke” and 42 percent of students reported being physically abused because of their sexual orientation."