Celadon Quality Drivers School

Originally, my husband was going to get his CDL and drive OTR for a year during which time I would ride with him. He was scheduled to go to Central Ref, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense to do the husband/wife team. We started looking over companies again reviewing the team options. We settled on Quality Drivers which is the company sponsored school for Celadon. It made sense for us since they require you to team initially, everything is paid including meals, and they don't withhold anything for the schooling. You sign a commitment to drive for them for 120,000 miles, and once you get your truck and partner the pay is $0.36/mile(split).

After speaking with a recruiter we were scheduled to begin classes on Monday, March 10, they provided transportation by Greyhound so we arrived late Sunday night. The school has dorms, but they were full so they placed us at the Quality Inn in Greenfield. The rooms are clean and it's better than I expected to have arrangements with a trucking school. The shuttle gets you to the school in time for breakfast and then the first week is classroom time. You spend Monday and Tuesday going over the material for your permit tests. The company doesn't require the tankers, doubles/triples, or Hazmat endorsements but they do recommend getting all of them and they pay for them. On Wednesday you go to the BMV to test and then whatever you don't pass you can go back on Thursday and Friday. Derek passed everything except Hazmat on Wed., but I failed my Indiana license and had to go back Thurs. but then I passed everything except Hazmat. You continue sitting in class for the remainder of the first week even after you pass your exams, because your required to have so many hours of class time.

Starting the second week if you have passed and been processed for your permit you get to go out on the range. You'll start out on range 1 just learning to straight back then as you get that you'll start learning to offset and parallel and be moved to range 2 & 3 which are supervised but they're not telling you every single thing to do like in range 1. Now I was a nervous wreck at this point of actually getting in a truck, I had never drove anything bigger than a pickup and nothing other than automatic. Since I had no idea how to pull out with a clutch the instructor worked with me and I was amazed at how simple it was.

We just finished our third week which was pretty exciting. You get to start your drive time on the road during week 3. We both were scheduled on the road Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and got an hour each day. We done well, they score you on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest, and they use these scores to determine when your ready to move to range 4 and 5 and when your ready to test. If driving that day you'll either be scheduled in the AM or PM group, and they'll be 4 students per instructor in each truck.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll continue to update.

I checked out their site. That's a quite a facility they've built. Do you know what the student to instructor ratio is? Have they got plenty of trucks to go around? I am planning on attending CDTC there in Indianapolis, but I wouldn't be against something like what Celadon offers. It looks much better than what some of the CDL mills offer. One of the main things I like about CDTC is that it's a small outfit with small classes. Of course, they don't offer the accommodations that Celadon has available.

Originally, my husband was going to get his CDL and drive OTR for a year during which time I would ride with him. He was scheduled to go to Central Ref, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense to do the husband/wife team. We started looking over companies again reviewing the team options. We settled on Quality Drivers which is the company sponsored school for Celadon. It made sense for us since they require you to team initially, everything is paid including meals, and they don't withhold anything for the schooling. You sign a commitment to drive for them for 120,000 miles, and once you get your truck and partner the pay is $0.36/mile(split).

After speaking with a recruiter we were scheduled to begin classes on Monday, March 10, they provided transportation by Greyhound so we arrived late Sunday night. The school has dorms, but they were full so they placed us at the Quality Inn in Greenfield. The rooms are clean and it's better than I expected to have arrangements with a trucking school. The shuttle gets you to the school in time for breakfast and then the first week is classroom time. You spend Monday and Tuesday going over the material for your permit tests. The company doesn't require the tankers, doubles/triples, or Hazmat endorsements but they do recommend getting all of them and they pay for them. On Wednesday you go to the BMV to test and then whatever you don't pass you can go back on Thursday and Friday. Derek passed everything except Hazmat on Wed., but I failed my Indiana license and had to go back Thurs. but then I passed everything except Hazmat. You continue sitting in class for the remainder of the first week even after you pass your exams, because your required to have so many hours of class time.

Starting the second week if you have passed and been processed for your permit you get to go out on the range. You'll start out on range 1 just learning to straight back then as you get that you'll start learning to offset and parallel and be moved to range 2 & 3 which are supervised but they're not telling you every single thing to do like in range 1. Now I was a nervous wreck at this point of actually getting in a truck, I had never drove anything bigger than a pickup and nothing other than automatic. Since I had no idea how to pull out with a clutch the instructor worked with me and I was amazed at how simple it was.

We just finished our third week which was pretty exciting. You get to start your drive time on the road during week 3. We both were scheduled on the road Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and got an hour each day. We done well, they score you on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest, and they use these scores to determine when your ready to move to range 4 and 5 and when your ready to test. If driving that day you'll either be scheduled in the AM or PM group, and they'll be 4 students per instructor in each truck.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll continue to update.

I was in one of the first set of classes with them. Sounds like they have cleaned up things and I see changes have happened again. I loved all of the instructors on the range and road training and miss MAX so much. I had to leave due to a family thing but learned a lot there the biggest problem was how many students there were so we did a lot of waitng back then. Glad to see that you are enjoying yourself.

I checked out their site. That's a quite a facility they've built. Do you know what the student to instructor ratio is? Have they got plenty of trucks to go around? I am planning on attending CDTC there in Indianapolis, but I wouldn't be against something like what Celadon offers. It looks much better than what some of the CDL mills offer. One of the main things I like about CDTC is that it's a small outfit with small classes. Of course, they don't offer the accommodations that Celadon has available.

Rico,

They have a new class start every Monday. I don't know the average number of new students, but there was around 30 in our class. They have been a little backed up due to all the snow that they received but since the weather is nicer they are picking back up. They have started hiring some new trainers and getting additional trucks as well. A lot of people are getting out in like 5 weeks, I know their website says like 3-4, but I'm ok with being here a little longer. There are people who's been here a while, but its partially going to depend on you and how well your doing. They aren't just going to push you out the door when you don't have the ability to drive or back.

Good luck!