Maryland School Bus Driver Shares His Passion for Freedom in Front of County Government Building

Maryland School Bus Driver Shares His Passion for Freedom in Front of County Government Building

Maryland School Bus Driver Shares His Passion for Freedom in Front of County Government Building

Roland Roy is a school bus driver in Prince George’s County, Maryland, who for years was forced to pay dues to a labor union whose values he didn’t share. When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME affirming the right of all public employees to decline union participation, he began to educate himself on the matter.

Very quickly he discovered the Freedom Foundation.

What started out as simply answering questions about the opt-out process and informing Roland’s union that the Freedom Foundation was going to see to it that his dues deductions stopped has developed into a great friendship.

Now Roland is an honorary Freedom Foundation canvasser, and we make sure he’s stocked with materials he shares with all of his coworkers, spreading the news about their constitutional rights.

Recently, Roland organized a protest with other Prince George’s County school bus drivers and attendants outside the county government office building to raise awareness about government and union collusion that have led to serious staff shortages in recent years.

There are significantly more routes than available drivers, so routes are being doubled up and children are left waiting at their bus stop for hours.

Watch this video of Roy and some of his colleagues as they call out the mismanagement of the county government and the lack of action on the part of the union.

Vice President of Communication and Federal Affairs
Ashley Varner brings a variety of public affairs experience and a tough skin to the Freedom Foundation team. Prior to joining the Freedom Foundation, Ashley spent many exciting, turbulent and wonderful years as a media spokesperson and state government liaison at the National Rifle Association. Following her tenure at the NRA, Ashley joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where she worked with state and local lawmakers across the country on a diverse set of policy and communications issues. A grassroots activist from a young age, Ashley joined her first of many political campaigns before graduating high school and organized protests across the street from her own professors at the University of Missouri. When not rabble-rousing against Big Government, Ashley enjoys cooking, mafia movies, and has seen most of the 1970s and 80s classic rock bands still on tour. She loves the Chiefs, hopes someday she can love her Mizzou Tigers again, and she was a Kansas City Royals fan and Patriot Act opponent before either was cool.