Islip Approves Muslim Boys’ School, but 120 Students Can’t Stay Overnight
A proposed Muslim school for boys on Long Island is moving forward, but the plan has been sharply limited. Students will be allowed to attend classes at the Bay Shore campus. They will not be allowed to live there.
The town of Islip’s zoning board voted to block the school’s proposed boarding operation after a fierce dispute with local residents. The controversy centered on plans to house as many as 120 teenage boys at a 13-acre waterfront property next to a senior living community.
Residents had raised concerns about the location. The property sits in a residential area, and the proposed school was not simply going to operate as a traditional day school. The original plan called for dormitory housing on the campus.
The facility was previously used as a Catholic seminary. The United American Muslim Association sought to establish an all-boys school focused on Islamic education at the site.
Residents pressed the board for five straight hours during a July meeting, according to reporting cited by The New York Post. The zoning board then reversed an earlier decision that had allowed the dormitory component.
“The Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-1 to reverse the Building Division’s interpretation and determined that the proposed boarding component… is not a permitted accessory use to the parochial school under the Town’s zoning code,”
The ruling does not shut down the school. Instead, it draws a clear line between the school itself and the overnight housing proposal. The campus can still be used for classes, but students must leave at the end of the day.
The board emphasized that the question was not whether a parochial school could operate in the zoning district. Under the town’s code, that use is expressly permitted.
“The question before the Board is not whether a parochial school is a permitted principal use within the District — [Town code] expressly permits such use,”
That distinction is central to the decision. The board did not bar the school itself; it ruled that the proposed dormitory was not permitted as an accessory use under the zoning code.
For residents who opposed turning the property into an overnight campus, the ruling is a partial victory. The school can proceed, but the dormitory plan has been removed. Students will have to leave at the end of each day.
The ruling gives the United American Muslim Association a path to pursue a day school on the waterfront property, while local opponents succeeded in stopping the dormitory plan.
For now, the arrangement is straightforward: classes during the day, no boarding at night.