St. Paul seeks public input on another East Side middle school

St. Paul schools are weighing whether to build another middle school on the city's East Side and are asking for community input.

The district has scheduled evening meetings Wednesday at Johnson High School and Thursday at Hazel Park Academy.

The district, one of the state's largest, expects to be 500 seats short of middle school space by 2019, based on current enrollment in grades 2 through 4.

The new building is projected to cost as much as $70 million to build and more than $1 million a year to operate.

St. Paul school officials are scheduled to make a decision on the plan at the end of April.