How important is the certificate from a school?

Short answer yes, long answer no with a but.

 

I had to fax mine to the company to verify the hours of training etc.

 

"Some" jobs yes, some places require 120 or 160 hour courses.

 

What you're doing is ok, but plan on job searches with smaller outfits in your area. If that doesn't work, then go with a trucking company school and you'll probably be fast tracked through the school since you will already know how to drive and already have a cdl.
There's a school in Miami that's 50 hrs. and they get a diploma that has it was a 50 hr. school. Those new grads have problems finding employment and many go with companies that offer further training. CRST snags a lot of those students and believe it or not, they post the experience wasn't so bad after all. They don't have a problem getting home time or freight out of South Florida.
Anyway, I'm not pushing CRST; just using that as an example. Have you considered other training companies as a backup plan.

 

Double post.
You already answered my question about further training with a company; that's a good backup plan.

 

Millis great starter and school and I hear home time is good

 

I still have the certificate from my school. The school itself does not exist anymore because they loved the influx of federal student loans of 2500 to 3000 dollars each when tuition averaged around 1500 or so for most students learning a new trade trucking.

I was a valedictorian in my high school senior class that year too. But no one cares. Literally. And if you were to examine the class in terms of how many seniors graduated versus the mean average of IQ among half of them.. it's not difficult for anyone to graduate with honors and valedictorian. Who cares?

However.

Go to a good school, one that is acceptable to you to learn how to truck and do a good job your very best every day no matter how hot and dusty gets or how wet you get (If it aint raining, you aint training...)

Do your best always. I rather you do your best and have to do something over again after failing because I know you will learn why you failed and do better next time. Rather have that and hire you than someone who has a devil may care attitude and handed over some cash, smokes and beer to the good old boys to get handed a CDL with no effort and a lot of danger involved to explode like a fused bomb on some poor unfortunate family.

Im seriously getting ready to go to war personally against the Immigrants from Lands overseas like Turkey, Syria etc who have no intention of being US citizens or learning how to be Americans in every way. And american trucking companies are harvesting big money in having these poor souls assigned a trucking school on top of learning everything else about America, which to many of them is like being picked up from Earth and sent 500 years into the future and plunked down on the Federation Starship enterprise or something. Poor things.

 

Food service companies will hire you with that course you're taking. They even hire cdl permit holders.
Sygma Network is one of them. Personally, I wouldn't work for any food service company because I don't llike dealing with those type customers. Some drivers are ok with it though and the money is good.