O.A. Thorp's auditorium, one of the largest on the Far Northwest Side, needs a new lighting and sound system, parents said. View Full Caption Friends of Thorp

PORTAGE PARK — Parents and school officials at O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy launched a campaign this week to raise $30,000 to install a new sound and lighting system in the magnet school's auditorium.

The outdated sound system makes it impossible to hear performances during the school's annual talent show in the spring, said Lisa Weisenberger, a member of Friends of Thorp, a parent group that raises money to fund special projects at school, 6024 W. Warwick Ave.

"It is one of the biggest auditoriums on the Northwest Side," Weisenberger said. "This would benefit the whole community, not just the school. It would be used more if it were updated."

Friends of Thorp, which obtained a $250,000 grant from KaBoom! to build a new playground on the east side of the school this summer, will keep working to raise enough money to implement a $2 million plan to transform the land around the school into a campus park featuring a grassy sports field, benches, an improved running track and natural play areas.

In all, the 3-year-old group raised $90,000 for the campus park.

"We're hoping we can raise enough money for the auditorium this year," Weisenberger said.

Principal Efren Toledo, who was not at school Wednesday, could not be reached for comment.

Weisenberger said she was resigned to the fact that parent groups had no choice but to raise money for capital improvements to Thorp, rather than count on money from CPS.

"It just is what it is," Weisenberger said.

Chicago Public Schools officials have slashed the district's budget repeatedly in recent years while grappling with what they say is a $1 billion deficit.

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