Getting In: Inside Boston's school assignment maze

A neighborhood scatters for school

There was a time on Montvale Street when all the children walked to the nearby Wolfgang Mozart Elementary School. But because of the city's school assignment system, the 19 children on Montvale will travel a combined 182 miles each day to attend a dizzying array 15 of public, private, and charter schools. It costs the city dearly in transportation costs, and costs the neighborhood its sense of community. Related story

COMMUTE TIME (IN HOURS)

The daily morning commute for the 19 school-age children living on Montvale Street adds up to a total of 7 hours and 40 minutes.

MONTVALE

AVERAGE

NOTE: Parents provided all information on school assignments; one student is still on a waiting list for the school listed. All routes and travel times were provided by parents except three that could not be confirmed and reflect estimates.

Globe reporter Stephanie Ebbert talks about the lacking sense of community on Montvale Street.

a.m.

Students in school

p.m.

Downtown

South End

Roxbury

Brookline

Newton

West Roxbury

Hyde Park

Mattapan

1 mile

2 miles

3 miles

4 miles

SOURCES: Interviews with the families, Boston public schools.

Stephanie Ebbert and Monica Ulmanu/GLOBE STAFF

Videos from the series

One stop, many destinations

Each morning, this Dorchester bus stop becomes a distribution hub for 250 students who live in the neighborhood, taking them to three dozen schools across the city.

Window of Opportunity

Proximity doesn't get the Bowen-Flynn's any closer to getting their child into the school they want. Meanwhile, the Wade family has the opposite situation.

The assignment letters arrive

After researching, ranking, and ultimately making their school choices, parents are left to wait, wonder and worry where the system will place their children.

Inside the assignment maze

The lottery assigning Boston kindergartners to classrooms is designed to be fair, but with too few good schools to choose from, too many opt to leave.