Students at T.M. Landry College Prep School could be attending class at a Lafayette location on Moss Street when they return from the Mardi Gras break Thursday, board chairman Greg Davis said Friday.

Officials with the State Fire Marshal's Office are waiting on blueprints from the school's architect showing safety improvements planned for the building, a former skating rink, in the 3400 block of Moss Street. They had not received the plans by 3:30 p.m. Friday, according to Ashley Rodrigue, spokeswoman with the State Fire Marshal's Office.

"In order to occupy, a building plan has to be submitted, reviewed and released by OSFM plan reviewers," she said, "then deputies have to make a final site inspection to confirm the actual building matches the plans that were approved."

The average plan review takes five working days, Rodrigue said, unless issues are encountered or supplemental reviews are needed.

Davis said he hopes the school's architect provides the fire marshal's office with plans by end of day Monday.

"The OSFM does not grant conditional occupancy approvals," Rodrigue said. "Full approval from plan review is required before a deputy conducts a final inspection."

Davis said he believes the fire marshal's office will approve the plans and the school will receive a temporary occupancy permit allowing classes to be held in the front part of the Lafayette building starting Thursday.

The plans, Davis said, include installing a fire wall in the back half of the building, as well as a fire alarm system and two additional exits in the rear of the building.

The work, he estimated, could take 60-90 days and cost about $40,000. The building's owners may pay $20,000 worth of the improvements.

The prep school operated from a building at 1800 Rees St. in Breaux Bridge since 2017. Davis said school officials began moving into the Lafayette location Tuesday. The fire marshal's office put a halt on school plans to occupy the building March 1 because they had not been notified of the move.

Rodrigue said the fire safety improvements are needed to the Lafayette building because it had been used for storage space for several years.

The Breaux Bridge building, Davis said, is larger than the Lafayette one and also needed fire safety improvements that could have cost $50,000 to $100,000, money the school doesn't have in the wake of a scathing November 2018 New York Times story accusing school officials of forging admissions reports and grades to get students into elite universities and of abusing students. After publication of the article, enrollment dropped from from 110 to 75, Davis said.

"Some people are saying that the fire marshal's office kicked us out of Breaux Bridge," he said. "That is not true."

The fire marshal's office was working with the school to find a solution, he said.