CFCC- Follow-Up
We still have a couple of weeks before our class of seven students is supposed to graduate. I don't know how many of us will actually make it, but I will go ahead with a few things about the CFCC commercial truck driving school:
Equipment: It sucks. Bald tires, a power steering pump in one of the two "training pad trucks" that leaks two quarts a day onto the pad, trailer brakes that take 20 minutes to unlock (that trailer has been dragged around on the pad with wheels locked a few times). The "road truck" - the one we actually take out on public roads - is much better but still wouldn't pass a properly performed pre-trip inspection. This state school must rely on donations of both tractors and trailers and many of the normal maintenance purchases that go with any truck - like replacement brake parts, tires, etc. I don't know if it's common for schools run by state agencies to be so impoverished, but it sure sends the wrong message to those of us who pay thousands of dollars for a five-week course.
Staff: Delightful. Two very knowledgeable and competent instructor/examiners work at the school. One for the "day class" and one for the "night class." My biggest problem with the actual teaching in my particular class has been that very little of it has been done by the instructor. He has been off site or on the phone in his office for most of the first three weeks of class while the students practiced maneuvers on the pad with no one but other students around to observe and coach them. I don't need to be coached by someone who is as clueless as I am. When my instructor is present, his instruction seems to be excellent. Every suggestion he has made works as soon as I get the hang of it. I get all I can out of those rare opportunities to be coached by a pro. But those opportunities have been far too infrequent and far apart.
Results: I don't imagine that many people who have been through this school actually fail their CDL test, because students are in a constant "dress rehearsal" for the test (at least the maneuvers on the pad and pre-trip inspections) for the last two or three weeks of the class. At the time I was checking this school out, I couldn't get anyone at CFCC to commit to a firm statement of the school's pass/fail rate on the Florida CDL exam. But like any CDL school, they don't really succeed unless their students do. "We'll work with everyone until they can pass" has been the informal position of the instructors at CFCC, as I imagine it is at every school. I'm sure there are some folks who just cannot perform and will not get their CDL (three out the seven in my class scare the hell out of me), so no school can guarantee a passing performance, but it's nice to know that at "crunch time" they'll get us through it.
Overall Impression: I absolutely do not recommend this school because of the safety issues (unsafe vehicles, the absence of an instructor during maneuvers on the pad). But if safety is not your first concern (you're on a budget, you live near the school, etc.), the instruction - when you can get it - is excellent.
I have dared to post this review before graduation, thus risking possible reprocussions I suppose, but I don't believe I have reason to be concerned. My next concern (after graduating with my CDL) is for future students who, for the short term at least, face some significant safety issues in my opinion.
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