TORONTO — Members of the Toronto Board of Education received an update on Thursday on the planned addition of an auditorium at Toronto Junior-Senior High School.

At the board’s regular meeting, Superintendent Maureen Taggart advised the buildings and grounds committee met with architects from the Cleveland engineering firm of Cordogan Clark Lesko to refine designs for the addition.

Taggart said as a result, an orchestra pit was removed because recorded instrumental music usually accompanies the live singing in the high school’s musical productions.

She added the move will allow the first row of the auditorium’s 614 seats to be placed closer to the stage while providing sufficient space for an audiovisual room through which lighting and other visual effects will be controlled.

She said the project also is expected to provide an opportunity to double the existing weight room adjacent to the space that will be occupied by the auditorium, providing much needed space for its exercise equipment.

Taggart confirmed the addition will require its own heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, and a small room is in the architect’s plans to contain such equipment.

Estimated at $5 million, the project will be funded from the board’s school improvement fund.

Taggart clarified the money won’t be from the school district’s five-year levy, though revenue from it allows the board to set aside other funds for such projects.

She said the engineering firm hopes to advertise for a general contractor after Jan. 1, with the ultimate goal of completing the auditorium before the commencement program for the Class of 2027.

The high school’s commencement programs currently are held in the gym, while its theatrical productions and other programs are held in a dual purpose cafetorium, which seats 500 when the lunch tables are removed.

Of the project, Taggart said, “It will be a fantastic addition to the school.”

In other business, the board heard from Abigail Jansen, director of the high school’s marching band, who said its members have been busy raising funds for a March trip to Disney World, where they will perform in the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

She added the students also will participate in a recording session, led by a Disney staff member, in which they will learn to perform a section from the soundtrack of a Disney film and have their performance of it recorded.

Jansen said it will cost $1,675 per member to participate and members have been selling cheese and sausage sets and other items and will be seeking gift cards for a future drawing to be announced by the Toronto Band Parents.

Any business interested in donating a gift card or money for the effort may call (740) 512-9083.

Board member Jay Foster noted at the end of the current school year, the band will lose 14 of its senior members, and suggested Jansen begin recruiting underclassmen to fill that void.

He added he hopes the new auditorium will help to generate more interest in the band.

Jansen said she has been working to build up the band and has made an effort to accommodate students who are involved in other school activities.

The board also heard from Karen Bodnar, who heads a team of intervention specialists at Toronto Elementary School.

Bodnar and the others work with students facing a variety of challenges to learning, including but not limited to learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder, and each year screen all students for dyslexia, as required by the state.

She said the staff currently assists about 80 students, some of whom remain in regular classrooms and others who meet with them in groups currently no larger than 6 pupils.

The board also approved the hiring of Jo’El Clark as a special education instructional aide and Shannon Bahen as senior high head softball coach.