Farthest North vs. GSUSA: It’s Over. Really Really Really.
National Governance 5 Comments 
cei, farthest north council, gsusa, judith batty, membership dues, national board, strongly worded letter
What? Could it be?
The Farthest North Girl Scout Council (Farthest North) and Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) are happy to announce they have settled their two lawsuits. The parties are excited to put these litigations behind them, and look forward to working together to deliver Girl Scouts life-changing experiences to even more girls in Northern Alaska. GSUSA welcomes Farthest North to the common technology platform and turning the page on past differences. GSUSA and Farthest North remain wholeheartedly committed to our mission and ensuring that girls in our Movement have the opportunity to realize their biggest dreams and full potential.
God bless America.
I’ve been writing about this case in some form or fashion for four years now, and it’s done. It feels surreal, in a way. This case is what led me to becoming involved with our organization’s national governance, and it’s been one heck of a ride.
I know Farthest North took a lot of heat for what they did, but it was absolutely the right thing to do. Someone had to hold the GSUSA leadership accountable for their actions starting in 2008, and even though they won’t ever admit they were wrong, it forced the membership dues issue to go where it should have been decided in the first place, and that was at a National Council Session. I don’t like the way the vote went because I believe there is now absolutely nothing holding GSUSA and the National Board accountable or in check at this point, but let the chips fall where they may.
Settlement details are confidential, so we won’t ever know what FN got out of it, but it looks like they have to go on the CEI IT platform. I won’t comment any further about that.
Farthest North has been a council since 1925, and I’m very happy they’re still with us. Plus I would have had to have sent the National Board and Judith Batty another strongly worded letter, and nobody wants that!
Welp, I hope you all enjoyed my play-by-play of the case through the years. It’s been real. You can read the entire saga here.
Thank you so much for sharing this news. Now to find out what is going on with the Middle TN litigation.
What? There’s more coming up? Do tell.
No, this is final.
Well, at this point in time the farthest North Girl Scout council is still not using the national technology platform. They are actually still doing membership forms on paper and there is no ETA, for those of us who are leaders, as to when we will be able to utilize the technology that GSUSA has available.
Frankly with the trouble that we’ve encountered trying to get members registered, I too wish at times that we still used paper. I met with new leaders in our SU a few weeks ago, and they had three parents who had tickets into Customer Care because they were having issues with registration. It’d be REALLY nice if they brought back the ability for leaders to register members through our dashboard, but that was taken away.