Group Behind Failed Long Island Muslim Boarding School Claims Town Board Caved to Islamophobia: Suit

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The United American Muslim Association is asking a state judge to overturn the Islip Zoning Board of Appeals’ September ruling, which blocked students from dorming at the former Catholic boarding school and seminary in Bay Shore, according to court papers filed Thursday.

Islip had already granted the school its blessing in January, signing off on the plan to open and house 120 Muslim boys — before the town reversed course after a wave of Islamophobia swept through NIMBY neighborhood Facebook groups and at a packed, five-hour public meeting in July, the lawsuit argued.

“[Muslims] are infiltrating everywhere like cockroaches,” one local wrote under a July post about the school, according to a trove of screenshots provided in the filing and reviewed by The Post.

Another Long Islander called it “a terrorist training school,” while more piled on with hateful comments in town Facebook groups like Bay Shore’s “Saxon Says No” and “Massapequa Matters.”

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The plans for the school hadn’t been altered between the initial sign-off and the town’s shocking reversal last month, which has led the group’s attorneys to argue the only change over that period was the bigotry that boiled over, court papers said.

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