STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Because of a lack of playground equipment, some elementary students would walk to a park to play.

In September, workers came to Roanoke's Garden City Elementary School and removed its antiquated playground equipment. School officials said it did not meet safety standards and told parents they would have a new playground by December.

But Christmas came and went with no new playground. Garden City's 265 students ended up spending the entire year playing in mulch and sharing a handful of swings. Sometimes they would walk to a city park during school hours to use a playground there.

Equipment at six other schools also was carted away and never replaced. Parents have gotten frustrated, wondering how long it can take to replace a few playgrounds.

"They're very upset," said Amy Layman, Garden City's PTA president. "The kids are very disappointed."

The story of the school system's missing playground equipment goes back at least to April 2008, when city and school officials started hammering out a deal to jointly buy and maintain the school system's playgrounds. But almost from the start, the deal got bogged down by bureaucratic red tape to the detriment of city children, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and a dozen interviews.

"This is the ultimate black hole for time," said Curt Baker, the school system's deputy superintendent for operations.

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School officials first discussed handing over playground maintenance to the city's Department of Parks and Recreation more than a year ago. Baker, who had been impressed by the playgrounds in city parks, wanted city staffers to lend their expertise to the schools. Steve Buschor, parks and recreation director, was happy to help.

"It just made sense, since we already had certified playground inspectors on staff, we could provide these services to the schools," Buschor said.

In April, the schools and the parks department drafted an agreement overseen by the city attorney's office. But two lawyers from that office, even though they are colleagues, couldn't agree on the agreement's wording and spent about five months working on it.

"We look at things from our clients' perspective," said Tim Spencer, who represented the schools.

Steve Talevi, who represented the parks department, said he did not consider five months a long time.

"You really can't say there's an average time to reach an agreement," he said. "This particular agreement is rather unique because it involves the city taking over responsibility for certain things."

It took until September for them to reach a deal. The parks department agreed to inspect and maintain the school system's playgrounds in exchange for $127,435 for the year. The school system also gave the city $240,000 to take out playgrounds at Forest Park, Morningside, Lincoln Terrace, Garden City, Fishburn Park, Raleigh Court and Round Hill elementary schools and buy four new playgrounds. Two of those schools, Forest Park and Raleigh Court, have either been re-purposed or shut down since the agreement was reached. Two other elementary schools, Westside and Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science, are in need of playground equipment.

"I was kind of shocked when they didn't have one," said James Mason, whose daughter attends Roanoke Academy and who has tried repeatedly to get some play equipment installed there.

Children who live near playgrounds are less likely to be overweight, said Kathryn Henderson, director of school and community initiatives at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

"Children are also more likely to be engaged in very active play when they have play structures in place rather than an open field," she said.

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In October, the city and the school system hit an unexpected stroke of luck. A major manufacturer, GameTime, was advertising a two-for-one promotion in an attempt to move inventory before the end of the year.

GameTime also offered local governments a cooperative procurement agreement to give them better prices. Under cooperative procurement, one local government can piggyback on the contract between another local government and a private vendor. It's a form of purchasing that can save time and money.

The arrangement would have allowed Roanoke to use a contract between GameTime and Mecklenburg County, N.C.

But the city only had a few weeks before the promotion expired in mid-November. Gary Hegner, the city's parks superintendent in charge of buying school playgrounds, contacted city procurement officials to expedite the purchase.

Over at school headquarters, officials hoped that the discount would allow them to buy six sets of equipment, rather than four. In October, Baker invited the principals of Westside, Garden City, Morningside, Round Hill and Raleigh Court elementary schools to a meeting at his office. He spread catalogs on a conference table and invited the principals to shop for their favorite model.

But the enthusiasm was short-lived. Roanoke's purchasing department determined that the city could not take advantage of GameTime's cooperative procurement program because the original contract was written in North Carolina.

"It was not solicited in the state of Virginia and our procurement laws could possibly be different than theirs," said Sharon Gentry, Roanoke's purchasing manager.

Other Virginia jurisdictions, however, including neighboring Roanoke County, have used the North Carolina contract to buy playground equipment. "I can't speak to why other agencies do that, but we don't in the city," Gentry said.

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Frustrated, the school system decided to take its money back and buy the playground equipment on its own, bypassing the city's purchasing department.

Even then, however, it took until March for the money to make its way back to the school system.

"It's like everything: It's not the only thing we're working on nor is it the only thing they're working on," said Hegner.

By the time the school system got its money back, however, it was in the midst of a budget shortfall. (About $20,000 of the $240,000 already had been spent to install a playground at Monterey Elementary School. The equipment had been sitting in storage.)

Discretionary purchases, such as playgrounds, were put on hold while administrators wrestled with painful cuts. But with the return of warm weather, parents continued to demand outdoor equipment for their children.

"I am still getting several questions about the playground for our school from parents and staff," wrote Garden City Principal Rebecah Smith in a March 20 e-mail to Baker. "Will we be getting a playground this school year? Is there a projected date? Please respond so that I can begin to answer everyone's questions. At this time all I can say to everyone is 'I don't know.' "

The school system decided to hold onto the money until the new fiscal year, which started July 1. Recently, Baker has spoken with Larry Fitzgerald, a distributor of GameTime equipment, who said he would give the schools a "substantial discount in price." Baker said that he intends to take advantage of the company's North Carolina contract, over the city's objections.

Despite the yearlong delay in purchasing, city and school officials vow to continue working together.

"It's never all rosy in a partnership, so the question is how do we handle those failures?" said Roanoke School Board member Jason Bingham, who leads a committee tasked with finding better ways to work with city officials.

The school system and the city are set to adopt a revised agreement next month that would give back responsibility for buying playground equipment to the school system.

Baker plans to buy playground sets for Garden City, Westside, Morningside and Roanoke Academy. There might even be money left over for a fifth set.

Two weeks ago, he invited those schools' principals into his office once again to select a model. The principals flipped through catalogs, asked about weight restrictions, accessibility concerns and picked out colors. Garden City and Westside chose green. Roanoke Academy went for a purplish color while Morningside settled on periwinkle.

They selected a model with five slides, monkey bars, a climbing wall, two pavilions, a suspension bridge, ladders and bongo drums. The principals were thrilled.

Baker is hopeful.

"If we move in a timely manner, we believe we can have them in for the opening of school," he said.