Growing Minds Preschool & Academy shut its doors Thursday near Buffalo and Vegas drives in northwest Las Vegas, leaving families scrambling to find new classrooms for their kids and employees still waiting on paychecks. The school, which served children from preschool through eighth grade, had opened barely two years ago and was already unraveling financially in its final weeks.
The closure, confirmed in a letter from Interim Head of Schools Debbie Kaye, capped a rocky stretch in which school leadership told families and staff that money had simply run out, according to KTNV. Parent Inga Algereyeva said she felt betrayed and had failed her children because she could not provide them a safe place, per the station's report. Teacher Kari Spicuzza said staff had missed nearly three paychecks but kept showing up for students anyway, asking pointedly where the money went and why there was not enough of it to go around.
A Last-Ditch Fundraising Push Fell Short
Just days before the shutdown, on October 23, Kaye said Growing Minds needed $85,000 to cover payroll for its teachers and staff. Families and supporters rallied, pledging nearly $50,000 within hours, money meant to cover past-due payroll and let teachers return for another week while leadership searched for a longer-term fix. That bridge wasn't enough. By Thursday, Kaye's letter said employees were still going unpaid and many had resigned, and that the school was not currently in a financial position to issue refunds because its available resources were depleted. The letter also said the owner had not provided a plan to resolve the school's outstanding financial obligations.
Owner and CEO Adam Feierstein, in a written statement to the station, said he was devastated by the closure and that he had poured his heart and soul into Growing Minds since it opened in January 2025. He attributed the shutdown to insufficient enrollment growth and a lease he said the school could not renegotiate. Feierstein had appeared in a sponsored Channel 13 Morning Blend segment in July 2025 promoting the school and its future. His initial statement did not address outstanding employee wages, how parent payroll contributions were handled, or whether families would see refunds, and he has not responded to the station's follow-up questions on those points or on the landlord's account of unpaid rent.
Landlord Says It's Owed Months of Rent
Shadow Hills Church, which owns the campus Growing Minds operated from, said the school's ownership failed to meet its lease obligations, including several months of unpaid rent. The church said school administrators and employees had told them staff and faculty missed payroll on more than one occasion, yet the church allowed Growing Minds to keep operating on its campus for months after those lease obligations went unmet. Shadow Hills Church emphasized that it served solely as the landlord and was not affiliated with the school's ownership or management.
No replacement school has been confirmed for the campus, though Shadow Hills Church said it hopes to welcome another school or schools there in the future. The Nevada Department of Education acknowledged the station's inquiry about the school's licensing history, oversight, and what protections exist for affected families, but has only sent an automated acknowledgment with no further response.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Nevada
Growing Minds is not the only private school in the state to fold amid financial strain. St. Anne's Catholic School and Spring Valley Christian School, both in Las Vegas, shuttered after the 2023-24 academic year, with St. Anne's citing continued diminishing enrollment and tremendous financial challenges, according to This Is Reno. St. Nicholas Orthodox Academy in Reno closed around the same time. Statewide, private school enrollment dipped 1.61% for the 2024-2025 school year, the first such decline in four years, per the Nevada Department of Education's enrollment data, even as Nevada's private-school population remains above its pre-pandemic level from October 2019.
Clark County's private-school enrollment slipped a more modest 0.42% that year, while Washoe County saw a steeper 10.7% drop. Nevada counted 131 private schools statewide in 2024-2025, three fewer than the year before. For now, Growing Minds families are left searching for new classrooms mid-year, and former staff are left waiting to see whether unpaid wages will ever be resolved.
