From High School Automotive Student to Director of Fleet Services
Chadd Gardner's 30-year journey has him leading the organization whose floor he once swept out. Part of his passion is paving the way for more high school students to follow their dreams.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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When most people hit the 30-year mark in their careers, their thoughts turn to retirement, or turning their attention to something they’re personally passionate about — starting a nonprofit, volunteering, spending more time with family.
For Chadd Gardner, 30 years marks the ascent to the top role within a group that he’s been associated since high school — Stafford County Public Schools.
In August, Gardner was named Fleet Services Director for the school system’s Transportation Department. He’s now responsible for ensuring that the school district’s army of buses, as well as some of the other vehicles used by the county, are running reliably when called upon.
It’s the culmination of a decades-long trek that began when he was student at Stafford High School taking part in an automotive program offered at the school.
As a part of his training at Stafford High School, he worked after school with the Fleet Services. “I came here after school and swept floors and emptied trash cans,” Gardner said. It wasn’t glamorous, but it got into the work that he knew he wanted to pursue.
He left Stafford for a brief period after high school, traveling to Houston to pursue training at Universal Technical Institute. After finishing that course of study, he returned to Stafford where he worked for a couple of years with Ryder.
In 2002, he was hired as a technician with Fleet Services — the same shop that he once swept floors for — and hasn’t looked back. He became a team lead in 2021 and continued his education. He is currently working toward becoming a Certified Fleet Manager through the NAFA, a fleet management association. He’s also completing his BA degree through Southern New Hampshire University.
Paving the Way for the Next Generation
While Gardner has made a good life for himself working in the school division, it’s the generation coming behind him that he’s passionate about.
Gardner is committed to strengthening the school district’s pipeline for students currently in high school apprenticeship programs. Currently, according to Garner, Brooke Pointe and North Stafford high schools offer automotive training. Gardner’s alma mater, Stafford High School, is now focused on HVAC training.
Fleet Services currently has two high school students per year coming through his shop as apprentices. It’s an opportunity not just to get hands-on experience in a field they look to work in, but to work under someone who literally came up through the pipeline.
These students are getting more than the nuts and bolts of maintaining the busses that shuttle students to and from school each day.
Gardner has been in and around other fleet services departments, and he feels that what he has helped build in the school system is special.
“The comradery with the people here and in the high schools” is healthier than in many other places he has seen.
“There’s a level of compassion and respect” in the school district’s Fleet Services department born out of the work they do.
Buses and More
Fleet Services is responsible for ensuring that when buses roll each morning, they are, in fact, rolling. Not broken down or unable to run their routes safely.
“The bus driver is the first person students see every day,” Gardner told the Advance. He knows that the driver’s mood is improved when they can sit in the driver’s seat each morning and afternoon confident that they’re not going to have mechanical issues.
He made that point to his team on his first day as the new director of Fleet Services.
“I talked about a lug wrench,” he said, “and the importance of tightening every nut and bolt” on every vehicle the group services.
It’s a lot of vehicles.
Fleet Services is responsible for handling all the preventative maintenance for the school district’s roughly 330 school buses.
In addition, they’re responsible for maintaining 170 light-side vehicles, which covers everything from lawnmowers to dump trucks.
And then there are the Stafford groups Fleet Services has contracts with to maintain their vehicles. This includes roughly 300 Sheriff’s Office vehicles.
The work for the Sheriff’s Office is contracted, but Fleet Services charges only to cover their costs and overhead associated with the work.
All total, Gardner has a team of 18 technicians responsible for keeping Stafford’s most-visible vehicles rolling.
The building he works out of now was constructed in 1979. A new facility is in the Comprehensive Improvement Plan for a new facility in 2029.
Home Grown
Fleet management is a high-demand field. According to one source, the “U.S. fleet management market was valued at $9.5 billion in 2024” and is expected to grow to $35 billion by 2030.
In short, Gardner has lots of options should he choose to take them.
Asked why he stays, Gardner’s answer is straight-forward. “This is my home,” he told the Advance, and “I never wanted to be anywhere else.”
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