AUDITORIUM EYED — On Thursday, the Toronto Board of Education has chosen Cordogan Clark Lesko of Cleveland to perform architectural and design services for a proposed auditorium for Toronto Junior-Senior High School. -- Warren Scott

TORONTO — The Toronto Board of Education is prepared to negotiate a contract with a Cleveland architectural firm to design a new auditorium for Toronto Junior-Senior High School.

On Thursday, the board selected Cordogan Clark Lesko of Cleveland from seven engineering firms that submitted qualifications for the project.

The move was made at the recommendation of the board’s buildings and grounds committee, which met immediately before the board.

Superintendent Maureen Taggart said a 600-seat auditorium is being eyed, possibly for an area behind the junior-senior high school occupied by the elementary school’s playground.

She said if the project is pursued, the playground would be moved in front of the school.

Taggart said $5 million has been tentatively budgeted for the project.

She said a five-year, 5-mil levy supporting the school district and up for renewal in November and the district’s capital improvement fund are among funding sources being considered for it.

Levy funds were used recently for artificial turf and other improvements to the high school’s baseball and softball fields and the multipurpose field on the embankment above the parking lot for the school campus.

Completed in May, the latter field has been used by the elementary school for recess, physical education classes for all grades, practice for the high school’s marching band and cross country team, conditioning by the football team and games played by the Toronto Titans peewee football league.

Capital improvement funds in recent years have included resurfacing the school campus’ parking lot and replacing outdoor lighting there.

Taggart said while the junior-senior high school’s dual purpose cafetorium can seat 500, with the lunch tables removed, an auditorium would provide a more suitable atmosphere for theatrical presentations staged by the high school.

She said it could serve as the site for the high school’s commencement programs, offering better acoustics than the gymnasium where they currently are held.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a $2,500 contract with the Jefferson County Juvenile Court for a school liaison service for the current school year.

• Accepted the resignation of Ralph Flowers Sr. as head softball coach for the high school.

• Heard from third-grade teachers Cari Wagner, Allyson Hammond and Allyson Marker, who reported on their classes’ participation in the Cleveland Browns’ Stay in the Game initiative, a program aimed at encouraging regular school attendance.

They said in addition to pledging to attend school daily whenever possible, pupils could have their photos applied to cartoon figures of football players, cheerleaders and others on a more than 12-foot long illustration of a football field displayed at the elementary school.

They noted the children also were challenged to work with their parents to come up with a variety of reasons for attending school, with the best used in dialogue balloons above the characters.

Teachers and other staff also appear in the illustration as coaches and officials.

The board’s next regular meeting will be at 5 p.m. Oct. 16 in the library of the junior-senior high school.