Crimson Crossing at Florida Tech

I’m in my last year of the FEAT program for the electrical trade. And I must say these teachers on tues/Thursday are top tier. They help you they teach you they give great advice. Shouts out SCOTT CAUSEY. ROBERT TIDWELL, MR GREEN, MR NOICE. AND MR.Johnson. Great guys/teachers. I really appreciate y’all. Thank you!!!!!!!

The staff here is very rude. Your questions don’t get answered properly at admissions. The teachers think they can talk to you any which way. I sent an email out with no reply. I was unenrolled unfairly by my ged teacher. The investment I made into myself was a waste of my time and money.

Despite multiple attempts to contact the school by email and phone, I have received no response regarding my daughter’s January enrollment. It is now December 16th, and there has been no confirmation of acceptance or guidance on next steps. This level of communication is extremely disappointing and creates unnecessary stress for families. Absolute JOKE!!!

Grateful I made the decision to attend this school for my CDL. Mr. LaVelle & Mr. Nick was Great! Yes and if i had ANY question they was just a phone call away.

This review may be long, forgive me, but I have a long history with the OCPS school system. When I moved from NYC to Florida for the first time in the early 2000’s, I received my GED through OCPS at their location in downtown Orlando, it was a great experience that gave me the confidence I needed to accomplish all the things I did following that achievement. I’ve been in the mortgage industry since 2016 but became miserable with it beginning in 2020. I decided I was heading for the hills in mid 2023, so I decided I was going to get my CDL license. I researched a bunch of these corporately owned schools that provide a 3 week program which teaches you nothing for over $7k, it made absolutely no sense to me. So I decided to look into OCPS again, this time Orange Technical College. Once I learned that it was an in depth, 8 week program (CDL Class A), I went deeper into the rabbit hole, got my CDL permit, met with a counselor who was a great great help, her name is Dorothy Brannigan, and got the wheels in motion to begin class on December 11, 2023. I just tested on January 30, 2024 to get my CDL Class A license, it was a little stressful, but the hard work and practice paid off. I am now just on the road with my instructors for the final three weeks driving around the state and accruing miles to my driving record before even having a job, no other school is going to do that for you. In terms of goals I’ve looked to achieve, OCPS is 2 for 2 at helping me reach them. Now the next paragraph is where I’ll get into detail about the program. My instructors were Lavelle, Nick, and Jeff. These are three men who have been in the trucking industry for a very long time, they’ve forgot more about trucking than you’ll likely ever know. Lavelle has a steady, patient, but firm teaching style. He loves to explain things and also gives you a lot of personal examples of his time in the trucking industry which will give you perspective. He will always encourage you if he knows you’re willing to listen, learn, and do everything by the book, he’s great. Nick is very old school, very by the book, more so than Lavelle. He will be hard sometimes, you’ll feel sensitive sometimes, but trust when I tell you that his teaching style is necessary. You’re learning to drive a TRACTOR TRAILER, this isn’t a joke, he is an encyclopedia of knowledge that you can tap into if you step outside of your own ego and tap into. If you listen to everything he tells you to do, it will be impossible for you to fail, just don’t be sensitive. Jeff is the newest instructor of the three, he’s extremely knowledgeable, relatable, and patient. I believe Jeff helped me the most as I was practicing the 10 maneuvers they teach to little success. He knows how to make things click in your mind, he’s very good at that. Understand that you won’t be starting out in the greatest equipment, your practice trucks will be a lot older, trust me, it will make you better. Once you get into a new truck, it’ll be like cake after you’ve gotten used to the practice trucks. I forgot to mention, there are other instructors as well, Ted and Keith, but they didn’t train me, they administered my state testing for my license, but that’s how they work it. If Lavelle and Nick teach a class, Ted and Keith test them, and vice versa. Be wary of these brand name schools with high price tags and little instruction. There is no way I could’ve learned what I now know in three weeks, there’s no way. A three week program should be illegal, but America puts the dollar before everything. If you want to know what you’re doing out there on the road, and feel confident that you have all the tools you need to keep yourself and others safe, go to OTC and get it done.