THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).
- Fairfield, New Jersey, officials say an Islamic school is operating with more than 300 students under approvals allowing 90. FOX 5 reported enrollment of 313.
- The township issued zoning violation notices and summonses. An emergency fire inspection found no imminent hazard requiring the school’s closure.
- The school is seeking approval for 400 students and says the old cap reflected the previous school’s program. The application returns to the board November 10.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).
A New Jersey Islamic school went before the planning board seeking permission to enroll 400 students. During the hearing, officials discovered it already had more than 300—under approvals allowing 90.
That’s one way to get a head start on an application.
Fairfield Township has issued violation notices and summonses to the Islamic Education Foundation of New Jersey over operations at Al-Ghazaly Jr./Sr. High School, with the dispute now proceeding administratively and in municipal court.
The numbers emerged at the October 13 Planning Board hearing. FOX 5 reported that the school was already educating 313 students, nearly three and a half times its approved enrollment.
Executive Director Hayat Jaludi defended the decision as an effort to keep students’ education from being interrupted.
“We made the decision to try to run the school with that capacity of students, and we’ve been successful so far,” she told the board.
The board had a different measure of success: getting permission first.
“But it was not your decision to make,” one board member responded during the hearing.
The Passaic Avenue property previously operated under county school approvals limiting daily attendance to 90 students and 40 staff. When IEF acquired it, the township issued a Certificate of Re-Occupancy under those existing approvals. Its request to expand beyond them remains pending.
The school’s own website says its Fairfield campus opened September 8, with 26 classrooms and 180 parking spaces. It describes the site as the new home for its high school and a dedicated middle school.
Residents complained about traffic and questioned emergency preparations for a student population far larger than the approved number.
The township sent its fire official to inspect the school the following morning. That inspection found no imminent hazard requiring an emergency shutdown. Officials said the approximately 42,000-square-foot building was “designed to safely accommodate the current occupancy.”
The school says the 90-student restriction related to the previous program for at-risk youth, rather than the building’s safe occupancy capacity.
“We reject the characterization that we acted recklessly or dangerously,” it said in a statement to FOX 5, adding that it respects the approval process and is pursuing permission to use the building to its lawful capacity.
The expansion application returns November 10. Until then, the school has a zoning dispute, municipal summonses and a rather large gap between the number on its approval and the number in its classrooms.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).
- Fairfield Township: Public notice—update on IEF School, 369 Passaic Avenue
- FOX 5 New York: NJ school admits to enrolling more people than it was approved for
- Islamic Education Foundation: New Fairfield campus—school description and opening date
- Internewscast: Outrage as Islamic school thought to have 90 pupils reveals 313
- Citizen Portal: Votes and actions from Fairfield Planning Board, October 13, 2026
