Letting It Run Its Course
National Governance, Opinions 3 Comments 
governance, gsusa, membership dues
I just wanted to drop a short note to let you all know that I will be taking a sabbatical of sorts here on GSWAC (Not a Council). I might post things from time to time, but I don’t really see me writing any sort of editorial on a national scale for a while. There’s really nothing left for me to say as I’ve been saying it over and over for the past five years now.
A friend of mine once said that making changes at GSUSA is like turning an ocean liner. It’s a slow process in order to get it headed in a different direction. But recently I feel like I got pushed off the boat, sucked under, and chopped up in the propellers.
I walked away from governance on the council level in early 2019 because I needed to get away for my own sanity from the disturbing things that were taking place. Plus, I had done everything I could do. It was time to let things run their course. I feel the same way about my involvement with national governance at this point. GSUSA is headed in a certain direction, and barring some kind of miracle CEO hire, its course is plotted. The passing of Proposal 2 was the point of no return. Even losing lawsuits didn’t slow GSUSA down this path. But there is one thing that will, and that’s bankruptcy. Maybe that’s what is needed in order for the necessary restructure and reset to take place and get Girl Scouting back to where it’s supposed to be. Unfortunately, camps and councils will be collateral damage when this happens.
This is my opinion, of course. I realize there’s a lot I’m not privy to, but it’s what I see from the outside looking in. Time will tell if I’m right or not. Hopefully I’m not.
I say all of this because if I go for a while (or ever again) without posting anything that involves an editorial on the national level, you’ll know why. I do need to finish the Yellowstone saga, and I’d like to feature our Trailblazer troop’s structure at some point and what we’ve been doing to get things up and running. I have some other projects that I’m putting my time toward too, and once they get to a point where I can share them, I will.
But I’m leaving national governance behind. It’s a very freeing feeling just like when I let go of council governance. I’ll answer questions and will be happy to serve as a resource, but I won’t be chasing after it – because it’s time to let GSUSA run its course. We’ll pick up the pieces when it finishes.
I know this song was run into the ground when it first came out, but if you haven’t listened to it in a while, you should.
We have passed the point of no return. Thank you for trying to be a voice in the darkness. Sadly I believe the majority of members today are using Girl Scouts as a place holder until something better comes along. Recruitment focuses on Daisies and Brownies with the mistaken belief the older girls will stick around. This leaves leaders exhaustedly trying to find ways to find exciting activities for girls. Studio 2 B tried to appeal to girls who would never join. The Policy makers have slowly or quickly been moving us from a hands on program to a more academic approach to learning. In the process costs have been steadily rising even further limiting our membership pool. We made 100 years and that I’m is an accomplishment.
If you look throughout its history, the National component of this organization began to grow and centralize its power starting with the Council Consolidation Plan in the late 40s. Little by little, it kept growing. This centralization runs contrary to the basis of Girl Scouting which is the democratic process (yes, those two words again). It flies in the face of a central power that rules from on high which is what National has fully become. GSUSA wants more and more power from councils and has started to siphon off money from them in the form of CEI payments, and soon, higher membership dues amounts which the councils will have to cover for girls who can’t afford it. The Core Business Strategy was catastrophic because it tipped the balance of centralization to one that the structure of Girl Scouting doesn’t support.
Another comment – what you say about the academic approach is exactly right. I am going full blown rogue at this point (I’ve always been a little bit anyway) when it comes to programming, and I believe everybody else should too. There needs to be a push back on the grassroots level to take back Girl Scouting from the GSUSA path.