One amusing side story : a few months ago, a Catholic nun refused to give unveiled identity photos for an official document as legally requested. But she was a personal friend of Mrs. Chirac and the administration accepted the "exception", until the story went out in the press...
The main problem with the ban is that the Muslim girls wearing hidjab will just stop attending public schools and go instead into confessional private schools where they will be totally subject to religious control.
Kind of "secular pharisaism" to me...